Pramipexole and Morphine for Renal Colic

Summary

Opioid analgesics are among the most commonly prescribed class of medications in the US. While opioids may effectively control pain and other sensory disorders under acute conditions, the rates of misuse/abuse and accidental overdose have reached epidemic proportions. Clinicians are being challenged to find alternatives to opioid analgesics, or to reduce their use in treating pain whenever possible. Pre-clinical studies have shown that combining morphine (opioid drug) with pramipexole (dopamine 3 receptor agonist with some D2/D4 action) provides superior analgesia against painful stimuli than morphine alone. This analgesia is maintained even when the dose of morphine is lowered to a dose that is not effective on its own. A recent case report describes the use of this combination to restore pain control in a patient with restless legs syndrome, for which opioids alone have lost their effectiveness (Happe S, Clemens S and Brewer KL, In Review). This application proposes to establish a new therapeutic approach for treatment of a pain associated with renal colic (a common painful condition) using a novel combination of 2 existing, FDA-approved drugs. The immediate goal is to demonstrate that this drug combination can provide similar analgesia to opioid alone, and that analgesia is maintained when the opioid dose is reduced by 50%.

Timeline

Start

2019-10-28

Primary completion

2023-01-24

Completion

2023-01-24

Publications

• Background Rodgers HM, Yow J, Evans E, Clemens S, Brewer KL. Dopamine D1 and D3 receptor modulators restore morphine analgesia and prevent opioid preference in a model of neuropathic pain. Neuroscience. 2019 May 15;406:376-388. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.03.034. Epub 2019 Mar 23.
• Background Afshar K, Jafari S, Marks AJ, Eftekhari A, MacNeily AE. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and non-opioids for acute renal colic. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015 Jun 29;2015(6):CD006027. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD006027.pub2.
• Background Pathan SA, Mitra B, Bhutta ZA, Qureshi I, Spencer E, Hameed AA, Nadeem S, Tahir R, Anjum S, Cameron PA. A comparative, epidemiological study of acute renal colic presentations to emergency departments in Doha, Qatar, and Melbourne, Australia. Int J Emerg Med. 2018 Jan 3;11(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s12245-017-0160-9.
• Background Patanwala AE, Keim SM, Erstad BL. Intravenous opioids for severe acute pain in the emergency department. Ann Pharmacother. 2010 Nov;44(11):1800-9. doi: 10.1345/aph.1P438. Epub 2010 Oct 26.
• Background Altun A, Yildirim K, Ozdemir E, Bagcivan I, Gursoy S, Durmus N. Attenuation of morphine antinociceptive tolerance by cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptor antagonists. J Physiol Sci. 2015 Sep;65(5):407-15. doi: 10.1007/s12576-015-0379-2. Epub 2015 Apr 18.
• Background Altun A, Ozdemir E, Yildirim K, Gursoy S, Durmus N, Bagcivan I. The effects of endocannabinoid receptor agonist anandamide and antagonist rimonabant on opioid analgesia and tolerance in rats. Gen Physiol Biophys. 2015 Oct;34(4):433-40. doi: 10.4149/gpb_2015017.
• Background Terner JM, Barrett AC, Lomas LM, Negus SS, Picker MJ. Influence of low doses of naltrexone on morphine antinociception and morphine tolerance in male and female rats of four strains. Pain. 2006 May;122(1-2):90-101. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2006.01.019. Epub 2006 Mar 9.
• Background Dourish CT, Hawley D, Iversen SD. Enhancement of morphine analgesia and prevention of morphine tolerance in the rat by the cholecystokinin antagonist L-364,718. Eur J Pharmacol. 1988 Mar 15;147(3):469-72. doi: 10.1016/0014-2999(88)90183-5.
• Background Bijur PE, Schechter C, Esses D, Chang AK, Gallagher EJ. Intravenous bolus of ultra-low-dose naloxone added to morphine does not enhance analgesia in emergency department patients. J Pain. 2006 Feb;7(2):75-81. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2005.08.008.
• Background Birnbaum A, Esses D, Bijur PE, Holden L, Gallagher EJ. Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of two intravenous morphine dosages (0.10 mg/kg and 0.15 mg/kg) in emergency department patients with moderate to severe acute pain. Ann Emerg Med. 2007 Apr;49(4):445-53, 453.e1-2. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2006.06.030. Epub 2006 Sep 15.
• Background Chang AK, Bijur PE, Baccelieri A, Gallagher EJ. Efficacy and safety profile of a single dose of hydromorphone compared with morphine in older adults with acute, severe pain: a prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother. 2009 Feb;7(1):1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.amjopharm.2009.02.002.
• Background Ostelo RW, Deyo RA, Stratford P, Waddell G, Croft P, Von Korff M, Bouter LM, de Vet HC. Interpreting change scores for pain and functional status in low back pain: towards international consensus regarding minimal important change. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2008 Jan 1;33(1):90-4. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0b013e31815e3a10.
• Girardi C, Duronio J, Patton R, O'Brien K, Clemens S, Brewer KL. A novel opioid/pramipexole combination treatment for the management of acute pain: a pilot study. Front Pain Res (Lausanne). 2024 Sep 24;5:1422298. doi: 10.3389/fpain.2024.1422298. eCollection 2024.

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