BACKGROUND Buprenorphine is a partial agonist at the mu-opioid receptor that has been proposed as an alternative to traditional full agonist maintenance therapy for the treatment of opioid addiction. We report on a clinical trial in which the relative safety and efficacy of long-term fixed-dose buprenorphine maintenance was examined in comparison to low- and high-dose methadone maintenance. M...

The effects of the tricyclic antidepressants desipramine HCI and chlorimipramine HCI on buprenorphine HCI antinociceptive activity were studied in mice using the hot-plate and the tail-flick methods. In the hot-plate test, desipramine caused a transient antinociceptive effect at low doses, but it decreased buprenorphine analgesia. Chlorimipramine in this test caused a more sustained antinocicep...

Prenatal opioid agonist therapy with methadone or buprenorphine prevents maternal illicit opioid use and withdrawal and improves pregnancy outcomes compared to heroin use alone. Historically, methadone has been the first-line opioid agonist therapy for pregnant opioid dependent women; in recent years buprenorphine has become first-line treatment for some opioid dependent pregnant women. While t...

PURPOSE Sublingual buprenorphine and combination buprenorphine/naloxone (BNX) are effective options for the treatment of opioid dependence. A BNX sublingual tablet approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the induction and maintenance treatment of opioid-dependence in adults was developed as a higher-bioavailability formulation, allowing for a 30% lesser dose of buprenorphine with bi...

IMPORTANCE Injection drug use is the primary mode of transmission for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Prior studies suggest opioid agonist therapy may reduce the incidence of HCV infection among injection drug users; however, little is known about the effects of this therapy in younger users. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether opioid agonist therapy was associated with a lower incidence of HCV ...

Several decades ago, the analgesic properties of buprenorphine were discovered. Its approval for the use as an agent for the treatment of opioid abuse has led to increasing numbers of patients presenting for surgery on buprenorphine. This article describes the challenges, advantages, and disadvantages of the use of buprenorphine as an analgesic for postoperative pain in patients with and withou...

Background Addictive-like behaviors (e.g., hoarding and shopping) may be the result of the cumulative effects of dopaminergic and other neurotransmitter genetic variants as well as elevated stress levels. We, therefore, propose that dopamine homeostasis may be the preferred goal in combating such challenging and unwanted behaviors, when simple dopaminergic activation through potent agonists may...

BACKGROUND In many but not in all neuropsychological studies buprenorphine-treated opioid-dependent patients have shown fewer cognitive deficits than patients treated with methadone. In order to examine if hypothesized cognitive advantage of buprenorphine in relation to methadone is seen in clinical patients we did a neuropsychological follow-up study in unselected sample of buprenorphine- vs. ...

OBJECTIVE To compare the effectiveness of preoperative PO and SC administration of buprenorphine and meloxicam for prevention of postoperative pain-associated behaviors in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy. DESIGN Randomized controlled study. ANIMALS 51 female cats (4 to 60 months old; weight range, 1.41 to 4.73 kg [3.1 to 10.4 lb]). PROCEDURE Cats received 1 of 5 treatments at the time ...