Until now the medical community’s thinking was that it was impossible to use two opioids in combination for chronic pain relief. University of Queensland’s Professor Maree Smith found that by lowering the dosage of oxycodone and another opioid, like morphine, below therapeutic doses resulted in the patient having the same, or better, pain relief than if just one of the opioids was used.

Another advantage of combining two opioids is the typical side effects (vomiting, respiratory depression, constipation, drowsiness, confusion, dry mouth, and psychological dependence) are also reduced.

Currently known as Q80031R is going through clinical trials by Australian pharmaceutical company QRxPharma, which hopes to have the drug available in the market by 2010.