AACHEN, Germany, September 19 /PRNewswire/ --

- The P.A.I.N. Initiative Presents the First Web-Based Tool for the
Quantification of Pain Medication

With the Medication Quantification Scale (MQS) Online Calculator, the
P.A.I.N. (Pain Associates' International Network) Initiative by the German
pharmaceutical company Grunenthal GmbH offers a web-based tool for the
quantification of medication used in pain populations. The MQS Calculator is
the first online tool that enables pain professionals to calculate the
medical impact of their prescribed medications.

Simplifying quantification of pain treatment

It is difficult to quantify pain treatment, because, like other
medications, analgesics differ in terms of efficacy, action and adverse
events. In addition patients often take multiple medications differing in
pharmacological class and dosage level. To simplify pain management and to
support healthcare professionals in their therapeutic decisions the P.A.I.N.
Initiative has developed the MQS Online Calculator.

The MQS Online Calculator provides a method for quantifying pain
medication, based on defined detriment weights for each given pharmacological
class multiplied by a score of the dosage. Available pain pharmaceuticals
have been categorized and assigned to substances from the WHO's Anatomical
Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (ATC System).

MQS online calculation - comprehensive and user-friendly

To calculate the MQS of an analgesic, healthcare professionals can select
available pharmaceuticals from a database. The database can be individually
administered.

Drugs can be looked up by specifying brand or generic names and the MQS
is calculated automatically. The calculated scores provide a quantitative
index of total medication usage suitable for statistical analysis. The
resulting prescription can be integrated into local electronic documentation
systems.

"The MQS Online Calculator improves and simplifies pain management in
daily routine" comments Dr. Bart Morlion, pain specialist and director of the
Leuven Centre for Algology & Pain Management of the University Hospitals
Leuven, Belgium. "The tool has a strong added value for professionals
interested in pain, scientific pain societies but also for healthcare
policymakers and health care insurance companies, and represents a step
towards effective and economic pain management in clinical practice."

The P.A.I.N. Initiative sponsored by Grunenthal will present the MQS
Online Calculator at this year's 4th World Congress of the World Institute of
Pain (WIP) (September 25th-28th)(i).

The MQS Online Calculator can currently be tested online in a BETA
version of the software at http://www.pain-initiative.com.

Additionally, the MQS Calculator is implemented in P.A.I.N. Quality, the
initiative's pain management software, to facilitate documentation of pain
treatment in daily routine.

About P.A.I.N. Initiative

In 2001 Grunenthal founded an international network of pain experts with
the aim of improving pain management: The P.A.I.N. Initiative concentrates on
the implementation of practice-oriented concepts and offers comprehensive
services and useful materials to support healthcare professionals and
patients.

P.A.I.N. Initiative is composed of international expert symposia
(P.A.I.N. Workshop), the pain management software (P.A.I.N. Quality), an
interactive training format (P.A.I.N Course) and a web-based communication
platform (P.A.I.N. Online). For more information, please refer to:
http://www.pain-initiative.com

About Grunenthal

Grunenthal is an expert in pain therapy and gynaecology and a pioneer in
intelligent, user-friendly drug delivery technologies. Founded in 1946, the
company employs 1,900 people in Germany and 4,800 worldwide. In 2006,
Grunenthal achieved revenues of 813 million Euro.

(i)Poster Presentation at the Sportarena Budapest. Poster Area: P2050
"The P.A.I.N. MQS Calculator: Quantifying medication use in practice". For
further information please visit the Grunenthal booth No. 11, 19, 20.

Literature MQS Calculation

Yihune, G. et al.: P.A.I.N. MQS Calculator: Quantifying medication use in
practice. 4th World Congress World Institute of Pain (September 25-28, 2007,
Budapest, Hungary), Poster No. 2050

Steedman, S., M. et al. (1992) Chronic-Pain Medications: Equivalence
Levels and Method of Quantifying Usage; The Clinical Journal of Pain,
8:204-214, Raven Press

Harden, R.N. et al. (2005) Medication Quantification Scale Version III:
Update in Medication Classes and Revised Detriment Weights by Survey of
American Pain Society Physicians. The Journal of Pain; Vol. 5, No. 6, pp.
364-371

Contact: Anke Krueger-Hellwig

    Phone: +49-241-569-2858
    Fax: +49-241-569-52858
    anke.krueger-hellwig@grunenthal.com
    Grunenthal GmbH, 52099 Aachen, Germany
    http://www.grunenthal.com