Cancer Pain

Over one-third of patients with cancer, and around three-quarters of those with advanced disease, have chronic pain.  Currently available opioid therapies do not yield sufficient relief in a substantial proportion of these patients and there is a clear need for new treatments.

Chronic, unremitting pain in deep tissues that results from cancer adversely affects a disproportionately large portion of the population. Worldwide, more than 11 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year and it has been estimated that by 2020 that figure will rise to more than 16 million people a year. The prevalence of cancer pain directly correlates with the stage of disease, with more than 70% of patients in the advanced stages of cancer reporting pain (World Health Organization, 1996). In particular, patients with breast and prostate cancer, both of which have a propensity to spread to bone, more often experience pain than patients with uterine and cervical cancer. Pain as an initial presenting symptom will occur in 20-40% of patients. Severe pain occurs in 20-35% of the cancer population and significantly impairs activities of daily living. The mean incidence of pain in a sample of 5,410 patients (across 22 studies) in various stages of cancer was 51%, whereas among 9,007 patients (across 38 studies) with advanced metastatic or a terminal phase of cancer, the mean incidence was 74% (Bonica, 1990).

Currently, opioids are the principal agents employed in the management of cancer pain, but the therapeutic benefit of their prolonged use is frequently offset by the development of undesirable effects such as constipation, sedation, respiratory depression and tolerance (Kehl et al., 2003).

Sativex is approved in Canada as an adjunctive analgesic treatment in adult patients with advanced cancer who experience moderate to severe pain during the highest tolerated dose of strong opioid therapy for persistent background pain.

Cancer pain is also the lead target indication for approval of Sativex in the US.

Sativex is currently undergoing a Phase II/III study in cancer pain, following which two further Phase III studies are planned prior to regulatory submission in the US and around the world.  

Additional publications are available by clicking here.

Click here for details of Sativex clinical trials in Cancer Pain