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The National Alliance of Advocates
for Buprenorphine Treatment

Buprenorphine (Suboxone®, Subutex®3, Zubsolv®4, Bunavail™5, Probuphine®6) is an opioid medication used to treat opioid addiction in the privacy of a physician's office.1 Buprenorphine can be dispensed for take-home use, by prescription.1 This, in addition to the pharmacological and safety profile of buprenorphine, makes it an attractive treatment for patients addicted to opioids.2

What are the pros and cons of inpatient detoxification?


Medically supervised withdrawal from opioids is the first step to treatment, but it does not constitute treatment in and of itself. It is difficult to find data reporting the long-term outcomes of patients who have been treated with inpatient detoxification.

 

Pros:
Medical supervision and expertise is provided and patients are kept day and night until discharged. Usually they are given group counseling. Almost always patients are given medication to ease the withdrawal symptoms while they are hospitalized. Some people find it therapeutic to be away from home, jobs, family, friends, and their usual routines.

 

Cons:
Treatment is short term. Even thirty days it is often not enough. Most times the patient is discharged without medication and because cravings continue, most find it is a matter of time before they feel compelled to give into the cravings again and relapse. Removal from the drug-saturated environment does not in and of itself, help patients to learn coping skills for resistance in order to maintain recovery long term. It can be very expensive if not government funded or covered by insurance.



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The Purpose of Buprenorphine Treatment:

To suppress the debilitating symptoms of cravings and withdrawal, enabling the patient to engage in therapy, counseling and support, so they can implement positive long-term changes in their lives which develops into the new healthy patterns of behavior necessary to achieve sustained addiction remission. - explain -

The National Alliance of Advocates for Buprenorphine Treatment is a non-profit organization charged with the mission to:

  1. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA Talk Paper, T0238, October 8, 2002, Subutex and Suboxone approved to treat opiate dependence.
  2. Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Clinical Guidelines for the Use of Buprenorphine in the Treatment of Opioid Addiction. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 40. DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 04-3939. Rockville, Md: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2004.
  3. Subutex Discontinued in the US market in late 2011.
  4. Zubsolv (bup/nx sublingual tablet) FDA approved 7/3/2013 see buprenorphine pipeline graphic -in pharmacies now.
  5. Bunavail (bup/nx bucal film) FDA approved 6/6/2014 see buprenorphine pipeline graphic -in pharmacies now.
  6. Probuphine FDA approved 5/26/2016 - FDA Probuphine press release