In a recent article, Lund et al sought to compare maternal and neonatal outcomes of various treatment regimens for opioid dependence during pregnancy.1 In their background, discussion the authors state that "In the United States buprenorphine plus naloxone [Suboxone(®)] … has been the preferred form of prescribed buprenorphine due to its reduced abuse liability relative to buprenorphine alone [...

AIMS To evaluate whether buprenorphine. even without additional control and psychosocial treatment and support, alleviates the problems faced by patients waiting for medication assisted rehabilitation (MAR). DESIGN A randomized, double-blind, 12-week study of Subutex versus placebo without additional support as an interim therapy. PARTICIPANTS One hundred and six patients, 70 males and 36 f...

This study aimed to establish a buprenorphine regime suitable for the short-term management of out-patient heroin withdrawal using an open-label, single-group case series. Eighteen dependent injecting heroin users underwent an 8-day withdrawal episode with supervised dosing of sublingual Subutex tablets. Buprenorphine doses were titrated daily over a 5-day period. Fifteen subjects (83%) complet...

Introduction Buprenorphine is a thebaine derivative that was developed in the 1970s for pain relief. It was approved for substitution therapy in France in 1996, and in the USA in 2002. In Singapore, sublingual buprenorphine (2 and 8 mg tablets) has been available since 2002 for the treatment of opioid addiction, under the brand name Subutex. It is registered as a prescription-only medicine, but...