Papers of the Week

Opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD) is a potentially fatal complication associated with conventional opioids. Currently, there is a paucity of validated endpoints available to measure respiratory safety. Oliceridine, an investigational intravenous (IV) opioid, is a G-protein selective μ-agonist with limited activity on β-arrestin2, a signaling pathway associated with adverse events including OIRD. In controlled phase III trials, oliceridine 0.35 mg and 0.5 mg demand doses demonstrated comparable analgesia to morphine 1 mg with favorable improvements in respiratory safety. In this exploratory analysis, we report dosing interruption (DI) and average cumulative duration of DI (CDDI) for both oliceridine and morphine.