Research and development round-up: August 2008

Abstract

New results from three phase III clinical studies for the novel centrally-acting analgesic tapentadol show similar high efficacy of tapentadol immediate release tablets (IR) compared with standard opioid oxycodone IR, among patients treated for severe pain. Those taking tapentadol, however, benefited from lower incidences of side effects, particularly gastrointestinal (GI) side-effects.