BACKGROUND The Scottish Naloxone Programme aims to reduce Scotland's high number of drug-related deaths (DRDs) caused by opiate overdose. It is currently implemented through specialist drug services but General Practitioners (GPs) are likely to have contact with drug using patients and their families and are therefore in an ideal position to direct them to naloxone schemes, or provide it themse...

BACKGROUND Barriers to public support for naloxone distribution include lack of knowledge, concerns about potential unintended consequences, and lack of sympathy for people at risk of overdose. METHODS A randomized survey experiment was conducted with a nationally-representative web-based survey research panel (GfK KnowledgePanel). Participants were randomly assigned to read different message...

OBJECTIVES We examined the use, procurement, and motivations for the use of diverted buprenorphine/naloxone among injecting and noninjecting opioid users in an urban area. METHODS A survey was self-administered among 51 injecting opioid users and 49 noninjecting opioid users in Providence, RI. Participants were recruited from a fixed-site syringe exchange program and a community outreach site...

Prehospital providers are at increased risk for blood-borne exposure and disease due to the nature of their environment. The use if intranasal (i.n.) medications in high-risk populations may limit this risk of exposure. To determine the efficacy of i.n. naloxone in the treatment of suspected opiate overdose patients in the prehospital setting, a prospective, nonrandomized trial of administering...

BACKGROUND Opioid overdose, which has reached epidemic levels in the United States, is reversible by administration of the medication naloxone. Naloxone requires a prescription but is not a controlled substance and has no abuse potential. In the last half-decade, the majority of states have modified their laws to increase layperson access to the medication. METHODS We utilized a structured le...

INTRODUCTION This study proposes that intranasal (IN) naloxone administration is preferable to intravenous (IV) naloxone by emergency medical services for opioid overdoses. Our study attempts to establish that IN naloxone is as effective as IV naloxone but without the risk of needle exposure. We also attempt to validate the use of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) in opioid intoxication. METHODS A...

Objective To quantify naloxone and metabolite concentrations in newborns prenatally exposed to sublingual buprenorphine/naloxone and to correlate neonatal and maternal metabolite concentrations. Methods This is a prospective observational cohort study. Eleven pregnant women treated for opioid use disorder with sublingual buprenorphine/naloxone were enrolled. Maternal and newborn blood was colle...

Opioid analgesics are usually effective in the management of severe chronic pain. However, symptoms of opioid-induced bowel dysfunction (OIBD) are common during opioid therapy. Opioid-induced bowel dysfunction is often unsuccessfully managed due to limited effectiveness and numerous adverse effects of traditional laxatives. Newer treatment possibilities directed at the pathomechanism of OIBD co...

The present study, conducted as part of the development of a buprenorphine/naloxone combination product, was designed to evaluate the individual and combined effects of intravenously administered buprenorphine and naloxone. This in-patient trial used a randomized, double-blind, crossover design. Ten opioid-dependent male subjects were stabilized and maintained on morphine, 15 mg given intramusc...

Opioid use disorder is a well-established and growing problem in the United States. It responsible for both psychosocial physical damage to affected individuals with significant mortality rate. Given medical non-medical consequences of this epidemic, it important understand current treatments approaches opioid acute overdose. Naloxone competitive mu-opioid receptor antagonist that used reversal...