Acute analgesic clinical trials rely on two different efficacy paradigms, pain intensity and pain relief, to assess treatment effect.
It is currently unclear which efficacy paradigm is more sensetive. This lack of evidence gives rise to a frustrating debate when considering which primary endpoint to choose for an acute analgesic investigation (pain intensity via the use of summed pain intensity difference (SPID) or pain relief via the use of total pain relief (TOTPAR)).
