Opioid Abusers Missing Out on Anti-Addiction Drug

Opioid Abusers Missing Out on Anti-Addiction Drug

Painkillers are easier to prescribe than the drug that battles dependence on them, addiction specialist says

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 20, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors aren't using one of the most effective weapons at their disposal in battling addiction to prescription painkillers -- the anti-addiction drug Suboxone, a new study finds.

A review of Medicare claims showed that U.S. physicians are woefully underprescribing Suboxone. The drug is the only therapy Medicare covers to treat opioid addiction.

"For every 40 family practice physicians who prescribed an opioid painkiller, only one prescribed Suboxone," said lead author Dr. Anna Lembke. She's chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

"There's lots and lots of prescribing opioids for pain, but very little prescribing of this specific drug to treat opioid addiction," she added.

There's an epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse in the United States. In 2014, prescription drugs contributed to nearly 29,000 overdose deaths from painkillers or heroin, more than any year on record, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Medicare patients have one of the fastest growing and highest rates of opioid abuse in the United States. More than six out of every 1,000 Medicare patients have been diagnosed with an opioid addiction. Hospitalizations due to overuse have been increasing by 10 percent a year, the researchers noted.

However, Medicare doesn't cover methadone, the longest-standing treatment for opioid addiction, Lembke said.

Instead, Medicare covers Suboxone, a pill that combines two addiction-fighting drugs -- buprenorphine (Buprenex, Bunavail) and naloxone (Evzio).

Buprenorphine is a weak opioid that has effects similar to acetaminophen/oxycodone (Percocet) or oxycodone (OxyContin). But, the effects level off at moderate doses. This reduces the risk of misuse and addiction, according to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The other component is naloxone. Naloxone blunts the effects of opioids and can reverse an opioid overdose, SAMHSA explains.

Naloxone is prescribed on its own as a lifesaving measure for people who have overdosed on opioids. A study released online in June in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that prescribing naloxone to chronic pain patients who take painkillers can reduce overdose emergencies.

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