Pacira
Pharmaceuticals,
Inc. (NASDAQ: PCRX) today announced new data that demonstrate
opioid-related adverse drug events (ORADEs) following laparoscopic or
open gastrointestinal (GI) surgeries increased total hospitalization
costs by up to $12,724 and as much as doubled the length of hospital
stay (LOS), depending on the type of surgical procedure performed. These
findings were presented today during a poster session at the American
Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) annual meeting in San
Antonio, Texas.
Data from this regional retrospective analysis were drawn from 26
participating member hospitals of VHA Southeast (a regional office of
VHA, Inc.), and included patients who underwent select laparoscopic or
open GI surgeries and received opioid-based pain management regimens
from January 2009 to December 2010. The research was supported by Pacira
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Compared to patients who did not experience an ORADE:
-
Mean total hospitalization costs increased by $7,949 and $12,724 for
patients experiencing an ORADE after a laparoscopic or open GI
procedure, respectively.
-
Mean LOS was 1.5-1.9 times and 1.3-2.0 times longer for patients
experiencing an ORADE after a laparoscopic or open GI procedure,
respectively.
“These types of analyses continue to quantify the significant impact
opioids have on our patients and the economics of hospital care in the
United States,” said Dave Stack, president and CEO of Pacira
Pharmaceuticals. “These data demonstrate that even in laparoscopic
procedures, which are less invasive and intended to provide quicker
patient recovery, opioid-related adverse events including nausea,
vomiting, constipation, urinary retention and respiratory depression can
significantly impact patient healing and hospital discharge.”
Additionally, new national data on the impact of ileus following
postsurgical opioid use were presented during a poster session held
today at the 17th Annual Meeting of the International Society for
Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) in Washington, D.C.
Ileus is a partial or complete blockage of the small and/or large
intestine resulting in greatly impaired or lost bowel function. It is a
complication significantly associated with abdominal procedures that can
be exacerbated by opioid use.
In this analysis, researchers utilized the Premier healthcare alliance’s
database—the nation's most comprehensive repository of clinical,
financial and outcomes information—to identify adult patients who
received opioids after undergoing laparoscopic or open colectomy or
cholecystectomy procedures from 2008 to 2010. One in 10 patients
included in the study experienced ileus, which can tremendously impact
patient recovery.
This analysis, also supported by Pacira Pharmaceuticals, demonstrated
that higher opioid doses were associated with higher incidence of ileus.
In each surgical group, total opioid consumption (converted to the
morphine-equivalent dose [MED]) that exceeded the median MED was
associated with significantly increased total hospitalization costs,
LOS, and 30-day readmission rates, even for patients undergoing
laparoscopic procedures, where the incidence of ileus is typically less
common.
For the total population of patients experiencing ileus compared to
those who did not:
-
Mean total hospitalization costs increased by $15,928 ($31,374 vs
$15,446, respectively; P<0.0001)>
-
Mean LOS increased by 7.3 days (13.6 days vs 6.3 days, respectively; P<0.0001)>
-
Thirty-day readmission rates were approximately 6% higher (16.1% vs
10.2%, respectively; P<0.0001)>
About Pacira
Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: PCRX) is an emerging specialty
pharmaceutical company focused on the clinical and commercial
development of new products that meet the needs of acute care
practitioners and their patients. The company's current emphasis is the
development of non-opioid products for postsurgical pain control, and
three commercially available products have utilized the Pacira
proprietary product delivery technology DepoFoam®, a unique
platform that encapsulates drugs without altering their molecular
structure and then releases them over a desired period of time.
Additional information about Pacira is available at www.pacira.com.
