Conditions: Low Back Pain
Keywords: Low Back Pain Back Pain Chronic back pain
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 51
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
You are asked to take part in this study because you have chronic, non-radicular low back pain. This study is done to investigate the pain relieving effects of the study drug Exalgo (Hydromorphone ER) for people who experience chronic non-radicular low back pain. The purpose of this research is to look at how the study drug can be used to benefit people who experience this type of pain. This is a phase IV study done to study the safety and effectiveness of the drug. At this point the drug has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and has been studied in more than 2,000 pain patients in clinical trials, including individuals with low back pain. About 36 subjects will take part in this study.

Detailed description:
As a participant in this study, you will be asked to come to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), Center for Pain Studies (446 E Ontario St. Suite 1011, Chicago, IL 60611). Your part in this study will last for 8 weeks and will involve 3 visits to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and anywhere from weekly phone calls to phone calls every other day.

If you are in this study, you will be placed in one of two study groups: one group will receive the study drug and one will receive a placebo. You will be assigned a study group by chance using a process similar to the flip of a coin. This process is called randomization. Neither you nor the study staff will select the group you will be in. A placebo looks like the study drug but is an inactive substance that has no medication. Researchers use a placebo to see if the study drug works better or is safer than not taking anything. You will have a 66% chance of getting the study drug. You will receive placebo at some point during the study but you will not know whether you are receiving placebo or study drug during the entire study. However, if you have a medical emergency, the investigators can get this information.

Arms:
arm 1: Subjects may receive a pill with no medicine. arm 2: Subjects received study drug: Hydromorphone ER

Interventions: intervention 1: Hydromorphone ER intervention 2: Sugar pill
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Total target dose of 32 mg/day. All subjects will have a lead in for 2 weeks; then begin a 'forced' 2-week up-titration schedule as follows: 8mg/d (1 pill, 5 days), 16mg mg/d (2 pills, 5 days), and 24mg/d (3 pills, 5 days) then finally 32 mg/d (4 pills a day) for the 'stable dose' phase of the study, or identical placebo pills. If intolerable side effects occur, the dose may be reduced to last tolerable does, a minimum of 8 mg/day (or one pill a day), at the discretion of the PI. Subjects unable to tolerate 8 mg/day will be discontinued from the study. A 2-week down-titration will be used. intervention 2: Sugar pill

Protocol document: