Cancer patients with chronic pain syndrome: can we improve their quality of life?

Abstract

Many patients with different malignancies require analgesic therapy not only at advanced stages of the disease, but also during their diagnosis and treatment, as well as after treatment completion to ensure pain relief. New highly effective painkillers with a lower adverse event burden are critical to improve the quality of life of cancer patients with chronic pain syndrome. Tafalgin (tyrosyl-arginyl-phenylalanyl-glycinamide) is a highly specific μ1-opioid receptor agonist. It is an innovative Russian drug for subcutaneous administration, which has no analogues abroad. This article discusses the results of phase I–III clinical trials assessing tafalgin efficacy, safety, and potential to improve patients’ quality of life.

Keywords

• chronic pain syndrome
• cancer
• novel analgesics
• selective μ1-opioid receptor agonist
• tafalgin
• tetrapeptides