Introduction is different, but top medications for opioid addiction equally effective

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Psychology & Psychiatry Journal -- With opioid addiction officially declared a public health emergency in the U.S., medical intervention to treat the illness is increasingly important in responding to the epidemic. Now, a new study concludes that two of the top medications available for outpatient, office-based treatment, once initiated, are equally safe and effective in curtailing opioid use, relapse, treatment drop-out and overdose.

Researchers in the Departments of Psychiatry and Population Health at NYU School of Medicine, who led the study sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and published online November 14, 2017 in The Lancet, conclude that extended-release naltrexone (an opioid antagonist marketed as Vivitrol) demonstrated similar safety and clinical effectiveness to more commonly prescribed buprenorphine-naloxone (an opioid agonist marketed both generically and as Suboxone).

However, the study also points out differences that have previously been known: Patients being treated with naltrexone must detoxify before it can be administered. (This is commonly referred to as the “detox hurdle.”) On the other hand, buprenorphine allows individuals to transition relatively seamlessly from opioid use to medication maintenance without needing to detoxify.

Agonist (buprenorphine) and antagonist (naltrexone) treatment are pharmacologically, conceptually and logistically near-opposites -- allowing patients, families and providers to choose an …

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(2017-12-02), Introduction is different, but top medications for opioid addiction equally effective, Psychology & Psychiatry Journal, 126, ISSN: 1944-2726, BUTTER® ID: 014762591

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