TY - JOUR
T1 - Subjective and psychomotor effects of carisoprodol in combination with oxycodone in healthy volunteers
AU - Zacny, James P.
AU - Paice, Judith A.
AU - Coalson, Dennis W.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this study was provided by NIDA Grant DA23969 ; NIDA had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication.
PY - 2012/1/1
Y1 - 2012/1/1
N2 - Background: Some chronic pain patients on long-term opioid therapy also take centrally active skeletal muscle relaxants. One of those muscle relaxants is carisoprodol, a drug that is abused and capable of producing impairment. It would be of relevance to characterize the effects of an opioid and carisoprodol when taken together to determine if abuse liability-related measures and psychomotor impairment are increased compared to when the drugs are taken alone. Methods: As part of a larger crossover, randomized, double-blind study, we examined the subjective and psychomotor responses of 15 healthy volunteers to four experimental conditions: placebo, 350. mg carisoprodol, 10. mg oxycodone, and 350. mg carisoprodol followed 60. min later by 10. mg oxycodone (intended to test the interaction of the two drugs when they were producing their maximal effects). Results: Preliminary data analyses indicated that some of carisoprodol's effects were declining when we tested for drug interactions. Despite this, on some outcome measures in which the drugs alone did not differ from placebo, when tested together subjective effects were increased, including those that were abuse liability-related, and psychomotor performance decreased, relative to placebo. Conclusions: This is the first study that we are aware of that has shown that carisoprodol and oxycodone, two drugs that are sometimes co-prescribed for relief of pain, produce effects when administered "together" (i.e., separated by 60. min) that are of greater magnitude than when they are administered alone. Some of the effects were not benign, and are of concern from both abuse liability and public safety standpoints.
AB - Background: Some chronic pain patients on long-term opioid therapy also take centrally active skeletal muscle relaxants. One of those muscle relaxants is carisoprodol, a drug that is abused and capable of producing impairment. It would be of relevance to characterize the effects of an opioid and carisoprodol when taken together to determine if abuse liability-related measures and psychomotor impairment are increased compared to when the drugs are taken alone. Methods: As part of a larger crossover, randomized, double-blind study, we examined the subjective and psychomotor responses of 15 healthy volunteers to four experimental conditions: placebo, 350. mg carisoprodol, 10. mg oxycodone, and 350. mg carisoprodol followed 60. min later by 10. mg oxycodone (intended to test the interaction of the two drugs when they were producing their maximal effects). Results: Preliminary data analyses indicated that some of carisoprodol's effects were declining when we tested for drug interactions. Despite this, on some outcome measures in which the drugs alone did not differ from placebo, when tested together subjective effects were increased, including those that were abuse liability-related, and psychomotor performance decreased, relative to placebo. Conclusions: This is the first study that we are aware of that has shown that carisoprodol and oxycodone, two drugs that are sometimes co-prescribed for relief of pain, produce effects when administered "together" (i.e., separated by 60. min) that are of greater magnitude than when they are administered alone. Some of the effects were not benign, and are of concern from both abuse liability and public safety standpoints.
KW - Abuse liability
KW - Carisoprodol
KW - Healthy volunteer
KW - Musculoskeletal relaxant
KW - Oxycodone
KW - Prescription opioid
KW - Psychomotor performance
KW - Subjective effects
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U2 - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.07.006
DO - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.07.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 21840651
AN - SCOPUS:80053121447
VL - 120
SP - 229
EP - 232
JO - Drug and Alcohol Dependence
JF - Drug and Alcohol Dependence
SN - 0376-8716
IS - 1-3
ER -