AcelRx’s sufentanil tablets for post-operative pain featured in publication

AcelRx announced a recent retrospective study published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine Special Issue which retrospectively analyzed a total of 71 patients with respect to quality of postoperative pain management following total knee arthroplasty. Investigators analyzed data from 50 patients who received sufentanil sublingual tablets, or SSTs, postoperatively versus a control group of 21 patients who were treated according to standard pain management protocol with continuous femoral nerve block. NRS scores were statistically lower in the SSTs group compared to the control group 24 hours following surgery, and numerically lower at all other time points. Fewer patients in the SSTs group required rescue analgesic doses – 5% – vs. control group – 60% – and discharge occurred on average 1.5 days earlier in the SSTs group. Adverse events were noted as being consistently lower in the group administered SSTs, and this was most notably observed to be the case with nausea – 10% vs. 30%- , typically the most frequently reported adverse event with postoperative opioid administration.