Conditions: Pain Advanced Cancer
Keywords: Cancer pain Opioid therapy Inadequate analgesia Optimized chronic opioid therapy
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 399
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This 9-week study aimed to determine the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of nabiximols (Sativex®) as an adjunctive treatment, compared with placebo in relieving uncontrolled persistent chronic pain in participants with advanced cancer.

Eligible participants were not required to stop any of their current treatments or medications.

Detailed description:
This 9-week, multi-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study aimed to determine the efficacy, safety and tolerability of nabiximols, administered as an adjunctive treatment for 5 weeks, versus placebo. Eligible participants had advanced cancer, with a clinical diagnosis of cancer related pain that was not wholly alleviated by their current optimized opioid treatment.

Qualifying participants entered the study at screening and commenced a 5 to 14 day eligibility period. During this period, eligible participants had 3 consecutive days where pain severity remained within defined parameters, break-through opioid usage had not exceeded an average of 4 episodes per day, and maintenance opioid medication and dose had not changed. Eligible participants returned for randomization on Day 1 and were randomized to either the nabiximols or placebo treatment arm using a 1:1 allocation ratio. Participants began an initial titration period that lasted up to 14 days. The titration schedule required dosing to a minimum of 3 sprays per day, after which participants were allowed to individualize their dose (3 to 10 sprays per day) until Day 14 when that dose was then fixed for the remainder of the study. Participants returned at Day 22 and Day 36 (end of the randomized treatment period), or earlier if they terminated prematurely from the study. After the end of the 5-week treatment period, participants were offered the option of entering an open-label extension (OLE) study; a safety follow up visit (up to Day 43) was not required if the participant entered the OLE on Day 36. Participants who entered the OLE, up to 7 days after study completion had their follow-up assessments performed on the same day as their first OLE study visit. Participants that did not enter the OLE study had a safety follow up visit 14 days after treatment completion, which could be via telephone.

Arms:
arm 1: Nabiximols was self-administered by participants as a 100 microliter (μL) oromucosal spray in the morning and evening, up to a maximum of 10 sprays per day for 5 weeks. Nabiximols oromucosal spray contained delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (27 milligram \[mg\]/milliliter \[mL\]):cannabidiol (CBD) (25 mg/mL), in ethanol:propylene glycol (50:50) excipients, with peppermint oil (0.05%) flavoring. Each 100 μL actuation delivered 2.7 mg THC and 2.5 mg CBD. arm 2: Placebo was self-administered by participants as a 100 μL oromucosal spray in the morning and evening, up to a maximum of 10 sprays per day for 5 weeks. Placebo oromucosal spray contained ethanol:propylene glycol (50:50) excipients, with peppermint oil (0.05%) flavoring and colorings.

Interventions: intervention 1: Nabiximols intervention 2: Placebo (GA-0034)
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: None intervention 2: None

Protocol document: