Extended-release morphine sulfate in treatment of severe acute and chronic pain

Abstract

Morphine is the archetypal opioid analgesic. Because it is a short-acting opioid, its use has been limited to the management of acute pain. The development of extended-release formulations have resulted in the increased utilization of morphine in chronic pain conditions. This review documents the history of morphine use in pain treatment, and describes the metabolism, pharmacodynamics, formulations, and efficacy of the currently available extended-release morphine medications.

Keywords:

• Morphine ER
• sustained-release morphine
• MSContin
• Oramorph^®
• Kadian^®
• Avinza^®
• Embeda^®

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work. In the past, AT has been on the speakers’ bureau for Pfizer, Lilly, Elan, Jansen, Alpharma, King, and Purdue, but is currently not lecturing for any pharmaceutical product.