FDA Approves Implant to Battle Opioid Addiction
Experts say steady dosing eliminates need to take medication daily to combat heroin, powerful painkillers
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, May 26, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A new long-acting implant that can help treat people addicted to heroin and prescription painkillers was approved Thursday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"Opioid abuse and addiction have taken a devastating toll on American families. We must do everything we can to make new, innovative treatment options available that can help patients regain control over their lives," FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert M. Califf said in a statement. "Today's approval provides the first-ever implantable option to support patients' efforts to maintain treatment as part of their overall recovery program."
Probuphine is placed in the upper arm of recovering addicts and releases a steady six-month dose of buprenorphine, an anti-addiction drug designed to combat the cravings that come with opioids like heroin or powerful prescription painkillers like Percocet or OxyContin. Buprenorphine is already available as a pill or a film that can be placed in the mouth.
The steady flow from the implant will reduce fluctuations that can occur when taking a medication once or twice daily, and it removes the need for a patient to remember to take it, said Dr. Annie Umbricht, an expert in substance abuse treatment at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
"A person suffering from addiction would not have to go through the up-and-downs of a daily medication, and therefore will feel much more normal," Umbricht explained.
Clinical trials published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2010 showed the implant led to higher abstinence rates among addicts, with 40 percent remaining drug-free compared with 28 percent receiving a placebo.
People given the implant also were more likely to remain in treatment, about 66 percent compared with 31 percent of the placebo group.
"It really reduces or eliminates cravings, and they don't start searching around for opiates," said Dr. Scott Segal, president and chief medical officer of the Segal Institute for Clinical Research in Miami, one of the centers that participated in the clinical trials.
The implant provides patients with no-fail treatment during its six-month period of effectiveness, Segal said.
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