This week Cephalon issued letters to patients and health care professionals to inform them of important safety information regarding Fentora.
Serious side effects and adverse events – including deaths – have occurred in patients treated with Fentora.
Fentora is indicated only for the management of breakthrough pain in patients with cancer who are already receiving and who are tolerant to opioid therapy for their underlying persistent cancer pain. These deaths occurred as a result of improper patient selection (e.g., use in opioid non-tolerant patients), improper dosing, and/or improper product substitution.
What Is Opioid Tolerance?
In plain English, opioid tolerance is when pain relief drugs like oxycodone no longer relieve pain in safe doses. Rather than going to unsafe doses to battle the tolerance effect, doctors may prescribe the patient another drug, such as Fentora.
Some examples of opioid drugs include: morphine, codeine, heroin, oxycodone, pethidine and methadone.
For more information about the proper use of Fentora, including which patients may be candidates for treatment with Fentora, please visit the Cephalon website.
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