Opioid alternative offers better pain relief than opioids

With pharma companies caught up in the Wall Street sell-off on Wednesday, there was some better news for a couple of the industry’s big players in the shape of some encouraging Phase III data on a pain drug that could offer an alternative to opioids.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) announced complete results from the first study in the Phase III program testing tanezumab, an investigational humanized monoclonal antibody, in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) pain treated for 16 weeks.

The study met all three co-primary efficacy endpoints, demonstrating that among patients with moderate-to-severe OA pain of the knee or hip, both dosing regimens of tanezumab were associated with a statistically-significant improvement in pain, physical function and patient’s global assessment of their OA, compared to placebo.