Efficacy and safety of tapentadol prolonged release formulation in the treatment of elderly patients with moderate-to-severe chronic osteoarthritis knee pain: a pooled analysis of two double-blind, randomized, placebo-, and active-controlled trials

AbstractObjective: To compare efficacy and safety of tapentadol prolonged release (PR) vs oxycodone controlled release (CR) in younger patients (<65 years of age) and in elderly patients (≥65 and ≥75 years of age) in the treatment of moderate-to-severe chronic osteoarthritis (OA) knee pain.Methods: Data from two double-blind, randomized, placebo-, and oxycodone CR-controlled phase 3 trials were pooled and stratified by age. Primary efficacy end-points were change from baseline in average pain intensity at week 12 (US end-point) and over the entire maintenance period (non-US end-point).Results: A total of 1357 patients <65 years, 653 patients ≥65 years, and 176 patients ≥75 years of age were assessed. The comparison between tapentadol PR and oxycodone CR showed numerically better pain relief under tapentadol PR for both primary end-points in all three age groups. More favorable improvements were also observed for patient global impression of change, the Short Form-36 physical component score, and EuroQoL-5...