Buprenorphine implants in medical treatment of opioid addiction

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Opioid use disorder is a chronic, relapsing disease that encompasses use of both prescription opioids and heroin and is associated with a high annual rate of overdose deaths. Medical treatment has proven more successful than placebo treatment or psychosocial intervention, and the partial µ-opioid receptor agonist and κ-opioid receptor antagonist buprenorphine is similar in efficacy to methadone while offering lower risk of respiratory depression. However, frequent dosing requirements and potential for misuse and drug diversion contribute to significant complications with treatment adherence for available formulations.

Areas covered: This review describes the development of and preliminary data from clinical trials of an implantable buprenorphine formulation. Efficacy and safety data from comparative studies with other administrations of buprenorphine, including tablets and sublingual film, will be described. Key premises of the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy program for safely administering buprenorphine implants, which all prescribing physicians must complete, are also discussed.

Expert commentary: Long-acting implantable drug formulations that offer consistent drug delivery and lower risk of misuse, diversion, or accidental pediatric exposure over traditional formulations represent a promising development for the effective treatment of opioid use disorder.

KEYWORDS:

• Buprenorphine implant
• opioid dependence

Declaration of interest

Steven E. Chavoustie has received honoraria/speaking fees from Medicis Global Services Corporation and serves as a consultant and master trainer for Braeburn Pharmaceuticals. Ole W. Snyder serves as a consultant and master trainer for Braeburn Pharmaceuticals. At the time of writing, Ryan Dammerman was an employee of and owned stock in Braeburn Pharmaceuticals. Michael P. Frost serves as a consultant and master trainer for Braeburn Pharmaceuticals. Joel Owen is an employee of Union University School of Pharmacy, of Joel S. Owen, Ph.D., LLC, and serves as a consultant to Sci-Med Bridge. Mona Darwish is president of Sci-Med Bridge, LLC, and serves as a consultant for Braeburn Pharmaceuticals. Victoria Sanjurjo is an employee of and owns stock in Braeburn Pharmaceuticals. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Writing and editorial support was provided by Terri Schochet, PhD, of AlphaBioCom, LLC, and funded by Braeburn Pharmaceuticals.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by Braeburn Pharmaceuticals.