Heroin Addiction Help

Implanted buprenorphine delivery device may help fight addiction to heroin, prescription painkillers.
Bloomberg News (10/13, Ostrow) reports that, according to a study published Oct. 13 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, an experimental implanted medication-delivery device manufactured by Titan Pharmaceutical Inc. and called Probuphine appeared to help "people fight addiction to heroin and prescription painkillers better than a placebo." Bloomberg News explains that the "product, shaped like an inch-long match-stick, is implanted under the skin and delivers continuously the drug buprenorphine."
"The current study involved 163 adults between the ages of 18 and 65 diagnosed as opioid-dependent between 2007 and 2008," HealthDay (10/12) reported. "Four buprenorphine delivery devices were implanted under the skin of one arm in 108 patients. Each device was set to slowly release 80 milligrams of medication," while the "remaining 55 patients received implants without any drug delivery." Notably, approximately "40 percent of the urine samples taken from the implant group tested negative for illegal drug use, compared with about 28 percent of the placebo group."