The new 12th edition of "A primer of Drug Action" discusses Suboxone therapy for opioid addiction. A recent article by Ling and coworkers at UCLA published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Oct 13, 2010, vol. 304, pp. 1612-1614) compared 6-months of buprenorphine implants with placebo implants in 163 opioid dependent persons. Drug free urines in the buprenorphine group occurred in 40% of subjects vs. 28% in placebo-treated persons. treated persons had a lower incidence of cravings. Data were encouraging and this offers yet another option for treating opioid dependence. I would love to see a comparative trial of buprenorphine implants vs. naltrexone implants. That would provide a comparison of a partial agonist vs. an antagonist. Lets wait and see.
Bob Julien MD PhD
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