A New Suboxone Implant

Titan Pharmaceuticals have just been awarded a patent on their Buprenorphine implant – Probuphine. This is quite an exciting development. I first heard about the implant they were developing about 4 years ago. They had already done some preliminary work and were embarking on a study of patients in Australia. The idea is that the implant can deliver pretty steady doses of Buprenorphine (the active ingredient in Suboxone) over a 3 to 6 month period. By using an implant they can give a lower dose and more importantly they can stop any misuse of the drug. Already doctors all over the country are seeing quite a lot of Suboxone abuse. Patients frequently skip a few days of their Suboxone so they can get high and then get back on the Suboxone to avoid withdrawal. They often sell their doses so they can buy street Heroin – not exactly what was intended for Suboxone treatment. Probuphine may be able to avoid all of that.

Of course at the end of the day the new implants contain a highly addictive drug that is very hard to detox off of. We still prefer Naltrexone Implants – they work well to decrease cravings, avoid relapse, and they have zero addiction potential.

Dr Coleman