Doctors Nationwide Prescribe Buprenorphine for In-Office Drug Addiction Treatment.

Health/Medical Writers

RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 2003

On anniversary of FDA approval, buprenorphine use grows

as more physicians are approved to administer drug

Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that use of its drug addiction treatment, buprenorphine, has grown rapidly since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the therapy last year. More than 2,000 physicians nationwide have completed the government-required training and received certification to administer the treatment.

Buprenorphine, marketed under the brand name Suboxone, is the first drug addiction treatment in the nation that a patient can receive through a doctor's office, rather than in government-regulated clinics. Physicians and federal drug officials see buprenorphine as central to broadening the alternatives for those dependent upon opiates including heroin and prescription painkillers. The therapy has created greater flexibility for individuals who prefer the privacy of a doctor's office or who live in remote locations and do not have access to treatment clinics.

"Buprenorphine has truly been a gift for physicians who treat drug dependency," said Dr. Herbert Kleber of Columbia University. "As an increasing number of high profile individuals admit to opiate dependency, our nation is beginning to realize that this disease impacts every class and community in the United States. The more alternatives we can provide in treatment, such as buprenorphine, the greater the opportunity we have to control and diminish the national scourge of drug addiction and its individual and public health costs."

Approved by the FDA in October 2002, buprenorphine was developed with the support of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to increase treatment options for the estimated 4 million people suffering from opiate dependency nationwide. The estimated annual cost to society of opiate addiction is more than $20 billion.

Under the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA), physicians must complete an eight-hour course and register with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Drug Enforcement Agency prior to administering drug addiction treatment. Physicians are limited by DATA to treating no more than 30 individuals at a time, however many are reporting a much higher demand for buprenorphine among their patient population.

"We are extremely encouraged by the increasing acceptance of buprenorphine among doctors and patients throughout the United States," said Dr. Kleber. "The approval of buprenorphine opened the door to mainstreaming addiction therapy in doctors' offices, rather than just in narcotic treatment programs. Our nation has taken a giant step forward in reaching people with opiate dependency across the country and providing them with the best possible treatment alternatives based on their individual situation."

Buprenorphine is a partial opiate agonist that blocks withdrawal symptoms and cravings associated with opiate detoxification without producing a strong narcotic high. The drug comes in the form of a tablet that is dissolved under the tongue.

Buprenorphine is currently available in 24 nations. The therapy has been used to successfully treat more than 100,000 patients in France, where it first became available in 1996 and more than 10,000 in Australia, where it was approved in 2001. In France, buprenorphine has contributed to an 80 percent decrease in heroin related overdoses and a reduction in HIV infection and mortality.