Buprenorphine / Suboxone / Subutex

The FDA has approved Subutex (buprenorphine hydrochloride) and Suboxone tablets (buprenorphine hydrochloride and naloxone hydrochloride) for the treatment of opiate dependence. Subutex and Suboxone treat opiate addiction by preventing symptoms of withdrawal from heroin and other opiates.

The first of these formulations, Subutex, contains only buprenorphine and is intended for use at the beginning of treatment for drug abuse. The other, Suboxone, contains both buprenorphine and the opiate antagonist naloxone, and is intended to be the formulation used in maintenance treatment of opiate addiction. Naloxone has been added to Suboxone to guard against intravenous abuse of buprenorphine by individuals physically dependent on opiates. Both drugs are supplied in 2 mg and 8 mg tablets which are placed under the tongue and must be allowed to dissolve.

Buprenorphine provides the latest assistance in withdrawing from opiates, reducing the associated chronic pain. It is effective in dealing with prescription pain killers such as vicodin, darvocet, and oxycontin.

Among addictive drugs, opiate withdrawal has proven the most difficult. From the heroin addict to the new breed of prescription drug addict, the problems of withdrawal remain the same.

Buprenorphine offers a more comfortable withdrawal from opiates, including oxycontin, heroin and prescription drugs, freeing the patient to focus on other primary issues of recovery.

Opiates imitate and are chemically almost identical to the body's own pain management drugs, endorphins, opiate addicts in withdrawal experience greater pain than the average person.

Buprenorphine is a semi-synthetic narcotic; Suboxone is a sublingual formulation that is a combination of Buprenorphine and Narcan. Taken sublingually Buprenorphine is absorbed through the mucus membrane, while the Narcan is not.

For many addicts, the pain of injury or the fear of medical treatment has been compounded by the painful discomfort of withdrawal. Rather than easing the pain, patients are experiencing intensified pain levels.

State of the art technology allows us to use a unique brainwave analysis to identify areas of the brain which are not functioning at capacity, and years of medication studies help us quickly identify those medications most likely to succeed.

Today, some 75 percent of medical patients suffer from a dependency to painkillers, whereas in years past dependencies to heroin were the most common. We recognize that all patients who are physically dependent on prescription pain killers as well as other opiates such as heroin became dependent through no fault of their own. Their disease is a chemical imbalance that requires expert medical treatment in a safe, humane and effective environment.

Used in assisting opiate withdrawal since its extraction and first application in 1973, buprenorphine has been recognized by the FDA as a useful adjunct to treatment.

Satisfactory monitoring of treatment compliance and efficacy (in terms of abstinence from other opiates) can be performed by means of either frequent urine screens for both buprenorphine and other drugs of abuse - this is vital for those addicts in treatment who have a need to prove total abstinence from drugs of abuse to an employer or to the justice system.