AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapies for use in medically supervised settings, today announced the publication of an article reviewing the use of sufentanil sublingual tablet (SST; DSUVIA®) for pain medicine procedures by lead authorSarang Koushik in Current Pain and Headache Reports. Koushik is a board-certified anesthesiologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.
Koushik's article "A Review of Sublingual Sufentanil Tablet (SST) and its Utility as an Analgesic Agent for Pain Procedures" discusses the challenges presented by patients suffering from chronic pain who are undergoing pain medicine procedures. These patients often have difficult intravenous (IV) access due to repeated IV placements in the past. Furthermore, patients undergoing some of these procedures must provide real-time feedback to the physician performing the procedure, which is difficult when the patient is over-sedated with IV sedative and analgesic drugs. The article highlights that the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians recently opined that IV propofol should not be used as a sedative for pain procedures due to its risk of deep sedation and side effect profile, especially in the elderly.
In addition to SST having a non-invasive route of administration, the article lists additional characteristics of SST, including "high bioavailability with avoidance of first-pass hepatic metabolism, rapid drug equilibration between central and peripheral compartments, the lack of active metabolites and a high therapeutic index." The article provides a detailed discussion of 23 published studies on SST assessing its safety and effectiveness in various medically supervised clinical settings. Lastly, the subject of SST as an option offering analgesia without the need for IV access or IV analgesics is discussed in the context of COVID-19-related social distancing requirements and drug shortages, as many IV sedatives and analgesics are on the FDA drug shortage list.