Implantable Medication Cuts Addiction
A new implantable medication avoids both the risk of patients forgetting to take their medication and cuts down on illicit Canadian drug use, according to researchers. Buprenorphine, which has been available from Canadian pharmacies since 2008, helps Canadian drug addicts to kick their addiction to substances such as heroin and Oxycontin because it blocks the euphoric effects while simultaneously stopping cravings and associated withdrawal symptoms.
While already available from Canadian pharmacies, researchers are now investigating the possibility of implanting the drug under the skin of a patient’s arm, which will then be released in low doses for the next six months.
“What buprenorphine does from the patients’ point of view is you have this one single treatment in six months and you don’t have to think about it every day,” says Dr. Walter Ling, who is leading the study on implanting the drug. “When you are treating the patient, what you hope to achieve is that if they are now not so preoccupied with using drugs all the time, they will do something else that will change their life.”
The implant, called Probuphine, is under development by US pharmaceutical giant Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc., but still needs more testing and government approval. “Buprenorphine is probably the most important advance in treating opiate addiction since the introduction of methadone,” Ling believes. “The reason is that buprenorphine, because of its unique pharmacological property, allows the doctors to be more flexible in its use… (it) is giving back the treatment of heroin addiction, or all opiate addiction, to the hands of the physicians. So for me that’s a big change.”
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