Drug dependence, tolerance and potential for abuse
For all patients, prolonged use of this product may lead to drug dependence (addiction), even at therapeutic doses. The risks are increased in individuals with current or past history of substance misuse disorder (including alcohol misuse) or mental health disorder (e.g., major depression).
Additional support and monitoring may be necessary when prescribing for patients at risk of opioid misuse.
A comprehensive patient history should be taken to document concomitant medications, including over-the-counter medicines and medicines obtained on-line, and past and present medical and psychiatric conditions.
Patients may find that treatment is less effective with chronic use and express a need to increase the dose to obtain the same level of pain control as initially experienced. Patients may also supplement their treatment with additional pain relievers. These could be signs that the patient is developing tolerance. The risks of developing tolerance should be explained to the patient.
Overuse or misuse may result in overdose and/or death. It is important that patients only use medicines that are prescribed for them at the dose they have been prescribed and do not give this medicine to anyone else.
Patients should be closely monitored for signs of misuse, abuse, or addiction.
The clinical need for analgesic treatment should be reviewed regularly.
Drug withdrawal syndrome
Prior to starting treatment with any opioids, a discussion should be held with patients to put in place a withdrawal strategy for ending treatment with tapentadol.
Drug withdrawal syndrome may occur upon abrupt cessation of therapy or dose reduction. When a patient no longer requires therapy, it is advisable to taper the dose gradually to minimise symptoms of withdrawal. Tapering from a high dose may take weeks to months.
The opioid drug withdrawal syndrome is characterised by some or all of the following: restlessness, lacrimation, rhinorrhoea, yawning, perspiration, chills, myalgia, mydriasis and palpitations. Other symptoms may also develop including irritability, agitation, anxiety, hyperkinesia, tremor, weakness, insomnia, anorexia, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, increased blood pressure, increased respiratory rate or heart rate.
If women take this drug during pregnancy, there is a risk that their newborn infants will experience neonatal withdrawal syndrome.
Hyperalgesia
Hyperalgesia may be diagnosed if the patient on long-term opioid therapy presents with increased pain. This might be qualitatively and anatomically distinct from pain related to disease progression or to breakthrough pain resulting from development of opioid tolerance. Pain associated with hyperalgesia tends to be more diffuse than the pre-existing pain and less defined in quality. Symptoms of hyperalgesia may resolve with a reduction of opioid dose.
Risk from concomitant use of sedating medicinal products such as benzodiazepines or related substances
Concomitant use of tapentadol and sedating medicinal products such as benzodiazepines or related substances may result in sedation, respiratory depression, coma and death. Because of these risks, concomitant prescribing with these sedating medicinal products should be reserved for patients for whom alternative treatment options are not possible.
If a decision is made to prescribe tapentadol concomitantly with sedating medicinal products, the reduction of dose of one or both agents should be considered and the duration of the concomitant treatment should be as short as possible.
The patients should be followed closely for signs and symptoms of respiratory depression and sedation. In this respect, it is strongly recommended to inform patients and their caregivers to be aware of these symptoms (see section 4.5).
Respiratory Depression
At high doses or in mu-opioid receptor agonist sensitive patients, tapentadol may produce dose-related respiratory depression. Therefore, tapentadol should be administered with caution to patients with impaired respiratory functions. Alternative non-mu-opioid receptor agonist analgesics should be considered and tapentadol should be employed only under careful medical supervision at the lowest effective dose in such patients. If respiratory depression occurs, it should be treated as any mu-opioid receptor agonist-induced respiratory depression (see section 4.9).
Head Injury and Increased Intracranial Pressure
Tapentadol should not be used in patients who may be particularly susceptible to the intracranial effects of carbon dioxide retention such as those with evidence of increased intracranial pressure, impaired consciousness, or coma. Analgesics with mu-opioid receptor agonist activity may obscure the clinical course of patients with head injury. Tapentadol should be used with caution in patients with head injury and brain tumors.
Seizures
Prolonged-release tapentadol has not been systematically evaluated in patients with a seizure disorder, and such patients were excluded from clinical trials. However, like other analgesics with mu-opioid agonist activity tapentadol is not recommended in patients with a history of a seizure disorder or any condition that would put the patient at risk of seizures. In addition, tapentadol may increase the seizure risk in patients taking other medicinal products that lower the seizure threshold (see section 4.5).
Renal Impairment
Prolonged-release tapentadol has not been studied in controlled efficacy trials in patients with severe renal impairment, therefore the use in this population is not recommended (see section 4.2 and 5.2).
Hepatic Impairment
Subjects with mild and moderate hepatic impairment showed a 2-fold and 4.5-fold increase in systemic exposure, respectively, compared with subjects with normal hepatic function. Tapentadol should be used with caution in patients with moderate hepatic impairment (see section 4.2 and 5.2), especially upon initiation of treatment. Prolonged-release tapentadol has not been studied in patients with severe hepatic impairment and therefore, use in this population is not recommended (see sections 4.2 and 5.2).
Use in Pancreatic/Biliary Tract Disease
Active substances with mu-opioid receptor agonist activity may cause spasm of the sphincter of Oddi. Tapentadol should be used with caution in patients with biliary tract disease, including acute pancreatitis.
Sleep-related breathing disorders
Opioids can cause sleep-related breathing disorders including central sleep apnoeia (CSA) and sleep-related hypoxemia. Opioid use increases the risk of CSA in a dose-dependent fashion. In patients who present with CSA, consider decreasing the total opioid dosage.
Mixed opioid agonists/antagonists
Care should be taken when combining tapentadol with mixed mu-opioid agonist/antagonists (like pentazocine, nalbuphine) or partial mu-opioid agonists (like buprenorphine). In patients maintained on buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid dependence, alternative treatment options (like e.g. temporary buprenorphine discontinuation) should be considered, if administration of full mu-agonists (like tapentadol) becomes necessary in acute pain situations. On combined use with buprenorphine, higher dose requirements for full mu-receptor agonists have been reported and close monitoring of adverse events such as respiratory depression is required in such circumstances.