To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: DG DISPATCH - ADA: Venlafaxine Has Role In Painful Diabetic Neuropathy URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/1D531A.htm Doctor's Guide June 11, 2000
By Jill Stein Special to DG News
SAN ANTONIO, TX -- June 11, 2000 -- Investigators are recommending that the antidepressant venlafaxine be considered for the treatment of painful diabetic nephropathy.
Dr. Nadia Kunz, with Wyeth-Ayerst in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, presented the results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study that evaluated the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of extended-release venlafaxine as a treatment for painful diabetic neuropathy.
Subjects included 244 patients, 18 years of age or older, with type 1 or 2 diabetes who were randomized to treatment with extended-release venlafaxine 75 mg, 150 to 225 mg, or placebo, for up to six weeks.
The data, presented at the 60th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in San Antonio, TX, showed that patients treated with extended-release venlafaxine in doses ranging from 150 to 225 mg per day had significantly higher analgesic response rates compared with placebo.
The study's primary efficacy variables were pain intensity and pain relief scales, and secondary efficacy variables were the Patient Global Rating of Pain Relief scale and the Clinical Global Impressions Scale.
On both primary efficacy measures, extended-release venlafaxine 150 to 225 mg was associated with significantly greater pain relief at all evaluations compared with placebo.
The 75-mg dose yielded significant pain relief compared with placebo on a pain relief scale at weeks 2, 3, and 5. By the sixth week, 56 percent of patients treated with extended-release venlafaxine 150 to 225 mg experienced significantly reduced pain intensity versus 39 percent who received 75 mg per day and 34 percent who received placebo.
Nausea was the most common side effect associated with extended-release venlafaxine.
In the United States, an estimated two to three million diabetic patients have at least one type of neuropathy as a consequence of their disease, Dr. Kunz said. Roughly eight percent of patients present with diabetic neuropathy at the time they are initially diagnosed with diabetes, and as many as 50 percent of patients develop diabetic neuropathy within 25 years of diagnosis. Ten percent of patients with diabetic neuropathy experience associated pain that is often severe and can interfere with their quality of life.
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