Fentora

I had a patient on intrathecal hydromorphone who also had Fentora for BTP when she had maxed out her bolus doses. We used it to tide us through until she could get her implanted pump reprogrammed. It is expensive, and it did work. Her 2 complaints: 1. Irritation to buccal mucosa. 2. Sometimes didn't dissolve. We worked on having her use various buccal areas to minimize using the same spot all of the time. We also moistened the area before using the Fentora which helped. We had to get the Fentora through a local pharmacy and it was not included in the per diem through H.P. She also used Actiq which she found helpful, but had a concern that her dogs would somehow get ahold of the sucker....she was more comfortable with the idea of Fentora.

Stupid question of the day....does BTP stand for Break Through Pain?

not stupid, yes it does.

We had a patient on the Actiq which also caused lots of buccal irritation.

Took some searching to find an online pharmacy price for this drug...the lowest dosage I found was a ,, 100 mcg, with a box of 30 going for $337.55. Yikes!

Both the Fentora and the Actiq are pretty expensive. A 600 mcg box of 30 Actiq will run you about $800. I don't remember the price for the Fentora, but it's brand new so you know it's $$$!!