Australian study delivers free medication testing for pain sufferers

Sufferers of persistent pain, including osteoarthritis, are being offered free medication effectiveness testing as part of a groundbreaking Australian study.

The national study, by The Centre for General Practice at The University of Queensland, will also provide individualised feedback to patients. The study aims to compare standard medical practice for assessing pain medications with The Individualised Medication Effectiveness Test (IMET) – an Australian and world first.

The IMET provides practical, individual feedback to patients. It is based on diary recordings of pain and/or stiffness, which are then comprehensively analysed.

According to study co-ordinator Professor Paul Glasziou, IMETs were already providing important feedback to patients. After the first 69 patients completed the chronic pain IMET testing, only 19 were found to have additional benefits from their non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication.

“In other words, about 70% of the people we tested were not individually responding to their current pain medications, which is obviously a cause for some concern,” he said.

“This unique new study is designed to measure whether the scientific assessment offered by an IMET is better than the usual way of gauging the benefit of medications, which is known as Standard Practice, or ‘try it and see”, Prof Glasziou said.

“A doctor will often start a patient on a particular medication and then see how they feel, but it is difficult to know if one particular medication works better than another. This is particularly true with medications like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for pain, which work very well for some people and not for others.”

Prof Glasziou described the IMETs as “the evidence-based medicine of the future”. “It enables us to deal with individual differences by helping patients work out which medicine is going to personally give them the best result.”

IMET has the major advantage of being non-invasive and free. They can be offered via mail and telephone contact with patients and their doctors anywhere in Australia.

Patients interested in participating in the study will either use Standard Practice to find the best medication for them, and then the IMET; or use only an IMET. This will assess whether IMETs are a better way of finding the right medication for people on an individual basis.

Persistent pain sufferers interested in exploring the benefits of an IMET can get a free information kit by phoning a dedicated number: 1800 038 464, 07 3240 6154 or 07 3346 4696.