This trial uses an alternative method to demonstrate the analgesic efficacy of NanaBis™ as a monotherapy in cancer participants. Proving analgesic efficacy requires demonstrating that (i) the analgesic is significantly better than placebo and (ii) that the magnitude of the improvement is clinically important. The latter is standardly done by measuring the change in pain levels from a baseline (no analgesia) to the end of a treatment period. A 30% decrease in the Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) has been correlated with participants reporting a moderate improvement in their pain and this was adopted as the standard method of demonstrating a clinically important magnitude of improvement. In this strategy, the measure of analgesic efficacy is the proportion of participants in the treatment group whose pain is adequately treated (responders). A responder is defined as a patient who completes the treatment phase with an acceptable level of pain (NPRS ≤ 5) and without requiring excessive amounts of rescue (breakthrough analgesia) medication. Unlimited breakthrough analgesia (Oxycodone) is allowed throughout the study; however, excessive use will result in discontinuation. Comparison of the proportion of responders in the NanaBis™ arm and placebo arms will determine if NanaBis™ is significantly better than placebo. Demonstrating that the proportion of responders in the NanaBis™ arm is non-inferior to the Oxycodone controlled release (CR) comparator arm will determine if the magnitude of improvement (provided by NanaBis™) is clinically important because Oxycodone CR has been established as the benchmark analgesic that provides a clinically important effect.
This is a multi-centre, long term, double blind, clinical protocol for NanaBis™ as a monotherapy treatment in participants 18-75 years of age with cancer related pain.