Soyka M, Franke AG. Recent advances in the treatment of opioid use disorders–focus on long-acting buprenorphine formulations. World J Psychiatr 2021; 11(9): 543-552 [PMID: 34631459 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i9.543]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Michael Soyka, MD, Professor, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Munich, Nußbaumstr 7, München 80336, Germany. michael.soyka@med.uni-muenchen.de
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Psychiatr. Sep 19, 2021; 11(9): 543-552 Published online Sep 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i9.543
Recent advances in the treatment of opioid use disorders–focus on long-acting buprenorphine formulations
Michael Soyka, Andreas G Franke
Michael Soyka, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Munich, München 80336, Germany
Andreas G Franke, University of Applied Labour Studies, Mannheim 68163, Germany
Author contributions: All written by both authors.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Michael Soyka, MD, Professor, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Munich, Nußbaumstr 7, München 80336, Germany. michael.soyka@med.uni-muenchen.de
Received: February 24, 2021 Peer-review started: February 24, 2021 First decision: April 21, 2021 Revised: June 6, 2021 Accepted: August 4, 2021 Article in press: August 4, 2021 Published online: September 19, 2021
Abstract
Oral methadone or sublingual buprenorphine are first-line medications for pharmacotherapy of opioid use disorders (OUDs). Three long-acting buprenorphine depot or implant formulations are currently available for the treatment of OUDs: (1) CAM 2038 (Buvidal) for subcutaneous weekly and monthly application; (2) RBP-6000 (Sublocade™) as a monthly depot formulation; and (3) A six-month buprenorphine implant [Probuphine™]. The pharmacology, clinical efficacy and prospects of these medications are discussed.
Core Tip: Although opioid maintenance therapy with methadone or buprenorphine is the widely accepted first line treatment in opioid use disorders (OUDs) the risk of diversion and low retention rates limit its use. While previous attempts to introduce long-acting methadone analogues have failed due to cardiac side effects in recent years, three different long-acting buprenorphine formulations have been developed and successfully studied in opioid users, two weekly or monthly depot injections (CAM 2038, RBP-6000) and one implant (probuphine). The prospects of these new medications are significant by optimizing retention and compliance and minimizing the risk of diversion. Thus, these novel medications can facilitate treatment of OUDs significantly.
