Conditions: Low Back Pain
Keywords: low back pain hydrocodone bitartrate opioids
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 182
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This is a 6-month, nonrandomized, open-label extension study to assess the long-term safety of hydrocodone bitartrate extended-release (ER) tablets in patients with moderate to severe chronic low back pain who require continuous opioid treatment for an extended period of time.

To be eligible for Study 3104, patients were required to have completed the entire double blind treatment period on study drug (either placebo or hydrocodone bitartrate ER tablets) through week 12 of Study 3103 (NCT01789970) and to have met the entry criteria for Study 3104.

Detailed description:
Eligible patients from Study 3103 (NCT01789970) were enrolled for participation in this extension study. For these patients, the final study visit in Study 3103 was visit 1 for this study (also referred to as the titration or adjustment baseline visit, depending on whether the patient was enrolled under the original or amended protocol, respectively). The original protocol was amended after 26 patients had been enrolled in the study. Those who were enrolled under the original protocol participated in a double-blind titration period of up to approximately 4 weeks followed by an open-label treatment period of 22 weeks. Those patients who were enrolled under the amended protocol participated in an open-label adjustment period of up to approximately 3 weeks followed by an open-label treatment period of 22 weeks.

Arms:
arm 1: Participants were administered hydrocodone ER tablets orally at dosages of 15, 30, 45, 60, or 90 mg every 12 hours at the dosage deemed successful for managing their pain. If enrolled under the original protocol, there was a double-blind titration period of four weeks to adjust the dose taken in study 3103 (NCT01789970). If enrolled under the amended protocol, there was an open-label adjustment period of three weeks to adjust the dose taken in study 3103 (NCT01789970). Both versions of protocol 3104 followed the titration/adjustment period with a open-label treatment period of 22 weeks.

Interventions: intervention 1: Hydrocodone ER intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Participants were instructed to take hydrocodone ER tablets orally with a glass of water on an empty stomach at least 1 hour before or 2 hours after eating. intervention 2: During the double-blind titration period used in the original protocol, placebo tablets matching each dose of hydrocodone bitartrate ER tablets (active drug) were used to maintain the blind but not for purposes of comparison.

Protocol document: