Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks

In a keynote lecture presented at the World Pharma Congress held in Philadelphia, Dr. Robert Dworkin, Director of the ACTTION public-private partnership, reviewed ACTTION’s rationale and background and presented an overview of its ongoing and planned activities. He emphasized the activities of Working Groups focused on (1) meta-regression analyses of study-level data from published and publicly-available clinical trials of neuropathic pain, osteoarthritis, and post-operative pain; (2) analyses of patient-level pooled data from neuropathic pain, osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia trials made available by FDA and industry; (3) development of definitions, a classification system, and rating scales for evaluating misuse, abuse, and addiction in analgesic trials; and (4) development of patient and staff training materials to increase assay sensitivity of pain ratings and other patient-reported outcomes followed by a proof-of-concept trial to test the hypothesis that patient training increases assay sensitivity.

Dr. Dworkin’s lecture – which is available here – was followed by a breakout session in which these ACTTION activities and other issues involving current analgesic trial methods were discussed in detail.