Tapentadol in acute pain: a review of the results of international studies

The treatment of acute pain is a fundamental goal for doctors of various specialties. Tapentadol, which combines the properties of an opioid receptor agonist and a noradrenalin reuptake inhibitor, is one of the most popular analgesics in the world that is effective in severe acute pain. We provide a review of international publications about pharmacological properties, efficacy and safety of tapentadol immediate release (IR) in acute pain. Data from phase II and III of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), in which tapentadol IR (50, 75 and 100 mg) was used for moderate to severe pain in surgical and therapeutic practice is discussed. A number of studies have compared tapentadol with placebo groups and classical opioids (oxycodone, morphine). The results of two meta-analyzes and systematic reviews of efficacy and safety of this analgesic in patients with acute pain are presented.International multicenter RCTs have demonstrated high efficacy of tapentadol IR 50, 75 and 100 mg in patients in the early postoperative period. Comparison with other opioid analgesics showed that tapentadol was superior to placebo and comparable to oxycodone in analgesic effect.It was concluded that tapentadol has a better safety and tolerability profile than classical opioids. The incidence of adverse events on this drug is lower than on oxycodone or morphine.