Turn to Tapentadol in a Post-Oxycodone World?

Tapentadol (Nucynta), a tramadol analog, is a weak opioid agonist (1/18^th of the potency of morphine in terms of mu-opioid receptor binding/activation), but in concert with norepinephrine reuptake inhibition (NRI) it yields significantly synergistically increased analgesic efficacy, as well as reduced tolerance and reduced adverse effect profile.