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A new nasal spray that will counteract the breakthrough pain felt in cancer patients has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
PecFent (fentanyl penctin nasal spray), otherwise known as Lazanda, is already available in five countries in Europe and marks a considerable coup for Archimedes Pharma Ltd, as their first product to receive approval from the FDA.
Breakthrough pain in cancer is felt by over half of patients with cancer and is an intense pain that typically lasts between 30 and 60 minutes and has been described as “excruciating”.
PecFent will be available to all cancer patients over the age of 18 who are already receiving and have shown tolerance to opioid therapy.
“PecFent is an important new option for patients with cancer who experience excruciating breakthrough pain,” said Jeffrey Buchalter, Chief Exectuive Officer of Archimedes Pharma.
“It is designed to deliver medicine in a rapid but controlled manner, and provides patients with an effective alternative to manage their breakthrough pain.”
Donald Taylor, Director at Taylor Research, said:
“As the first fentanyl nasal spray in the U.S., PecFent provides a new approach to managing the often debilitating and inadequately-treated episodes of breakthrough pain that many patients with cancer experience.”
“Current treatment options typically utilize short-acting oral opioid medications that cannot provide pain relief with an onset of action or duration of effect that matches the time course of a breakthrough pain episode. PecFent’s rapid and controlled availability is a much better match for the nature of an episode of breakthrough pain, giving physicians a new and powerful tool for treating cancer breakthrough pain.”
