While probuphine is the same pharmacologically as buprenorphine (in other words, the two medications have the same ingredients,) probuphine has been designed to continue delivering medication to the body over a six-month period after the initial dosage has been taken. As it stands right now, buprenorphine must be taken on a daily basis.
It is hoped that by keeping buprenorphine at a constant level in the body, the problems of taking it on a daily basis will be solved. These problems include the patient actually exhibiting withdrawal symptoms before it is time to take the first dose of the day, patients “forgetting” to take buprenorphine, and blood levels of the drug spiking and declining at intervals, instead of remaining at a consistent level.
Some people may not agree with using a drug as part of a drug treatment program. After all, isn’t the idea of drug rehabilitation to stop drug use all together? Yes, it is, but staff members and others at drug treatment centers know that sometimes some people need help in overcoming the worst of the withdrawal symptoms before drug treatment will even begin to be even a little effective. For this reason, they do not hesitate to make buprenorphine and similar medications a part of a drug treatment program.
For more information on probuphine, buprenorphine and the clinical trials currently underway on probuphine, please visit the website http://www.drugtreatments.com/ or call 1-800-559-9503.
