Cephalon touts “new and innovative” pain therapy

Cephalon has highlighted the benefits of its Fentora treatment for the management of breakthrough pain in cancer patients who are already tolerant to opioid drugs used to manage cancer persistent pain.

The company has said that Fentora is the first and only therapy approved for this indication and it gained approval from the FDA earlier this week.

The approval of the drug, a buccal tablet, follows clinical trials that showed that some patients demonstrated “clinically significant” decreases in pain intensity and greater pain relief within 15 minutes, compared to the placebo.

In addition, Cephalon claims that the systemic exposure of fentanyl – the active ingredient in Fentora – was around 30 per cent greater than for Actiq, an oral transmucosal fentanyl drug also produced by Cephalon.

Robert P Roche, executive vice president of Cephalon’s worldwide pharmaceutical operations, remarked: “We are very excited to be providing clinicians and their patients with cancer with this innovative new treatment for breakthrough pain.”

Russell Portenoy, chairman of the department of pain medicine and palliative care at the Beth Israel Medical Centre, New York, added that research on breakthrough pain indicated that there needed to be options other than short-acting opioid drugs that could better manage the “debilitating condition”, characterised by rapid onset and high intensity pain.

Fentora is not yet available in the UK, although Actiq, Cephalon’s other fentayl drug, is.