Lachiewicz PF, Lee GC, Pollak R, et al. - A randomized phase 2b trial was designed to evaluate whether and how HTX-011 decreased pain and opioid use after primary total knee arthroplasty. Researchers conducted this trial to include patients undergoing primary unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) under general anesthesia. Two-hundred thirty-two patients were assigned randomly into 4 groups: HTX-011 400 mg bupivacaine/12 mg meloxicam, applied without a needle into the surgical site, the same dose of HTX-011 with a separate 50 mg ropivacaine injection into the posterior capsule, bupivacaine hydrochloride (HCl) 125 mg injection, and saline placebo injection. The data showed that after TKA, needle-free application of HTX-011 400 mg bupivacaine/12 mg meloxicam provided superior pain reduction through 72 hours compared to placebo and bupivacaine HCl alone.