Oxycodone/paracetamol: a low-dose synergic combination useful in different types of pain

Abstract

The combination of two analgesic agents offers several advantages in the treatment of chronic pain. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) has central analgesic activity without a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-like or opioid-like effect. Oxycodone is a semisynthetic opioid agonist. The oral fixed-dose combination of oxycodone and paracetamol immediate-release formulation has a synergistic mechanism of action that is useful for moderate-to-severe pain and for nonresponders to NSAIDs or paracetamol alone. This fixed-dose combination offers several advantages: lower individual drug doses can be used because of their synergistic mechanisms of action, its opioid-sparing effect and it has a good efficacy and tolerability profile. Efficacy and safety of this fixed-dose combination were assessed in a wide range of clinical settings: in patients with osteoarthritis or chronic musculoskeletal pain, including when complicated by a neuropathic component; for chronic pain in elderly patients; cancer-related pain; postoperative pain; and for neuropathic pain, in the latter case usually given in combination with an NSAID or other drugs. The large variety of indications for which this fixed-dose combination may be useful can be attributed to the pharmacological synergy between oxycodone and paracetamol and because lower individual drug dosages can be used, suggesting that this should be a first-line agent for the treatment of chronic moderate-to-severe pain.