Hi Ken, The drug you mention is no different to Suboxone apart...

Hi Ken,

The drug you mention is no different to Suboxone apart from the route of administration. Both contain buprenorphine and naloxone however, one is buccal and the other is sublingual. No real improvement there.

The naloxone is used to try and prevent people using these oral medications IV as it counteracts the effect opioids when used IV.

For those cynics out there, treating addiction with pharmacotherapy is attempting to break the cycle. It allows people to maintain a relatively normal life while addressing the psychosocial aspects of addiction ie. reduce time spent with other addicts committing crimes to support their addiction and get them back work/school/spending time with their children. People can function quite well on opioids and only becomes a problem when you don't have any. A couple of years on pharmacotherapy away from illegal drugs and might be a contributing member of society.

It's quite rare for pain patients to become addicted despite what the media may report. When it does happen it's more likely to occur due to short acting opioids that give rapid spikes in blood concentration; as it is believed that these rapid spikes cause addiction. This is where opioid patches like POH's are useful. They provide relatively consistent blood concentration levels.

Just a few notes on pain before we decide to lynch all doctors for handing opioids to anyone. Pain has many contributors, it not just the nociceptors delivering the pain messeage to the brain. It's influenced by current mental state, mood state, past experiences, coping strategies and the list could go on and on....No-one is able to understand someone else's pain for these reasons. Doctor's rely on observing behaviours and affect and by asking questions combined with examination. The difficulty is that if a patient says they are in pain there must be strong evidence that says they're not to deny the human right to pain relief.

This is just a quick rant to those that have little knowledge on the subject but happy to assert their opinion.