Buprenorphine implant shows positive results in newly released data

Data released this week about the newly approved six-month buprenorphine implant indicate that the implant resulted in significantly less evidence of illicit opioid use at six months than the sublingual formulation of buprenorphine. Braeburn Pharmaceuticals presented the data for its Probuphine implant at the annual scientific meeting of The College on Problems of Drug Dependence.

In a June 16 statement about the research, Braeburn CEO Behshad Sheldon added that the company has trained 800 healthcare providers since receiving federal approval of the implant late last month. “We recognize the importance to both physicians and patients of this new treatment for opioid dependence and are working to train 5,000 healthcare providers before the end of the year,” Sheldon said.

The Phase 3 study's primary outcome analysis found that 96.4% of Probuphine patients demonstrated at least four months of no evidence of drug use, compared with 87.6% of sublingual buprenorphine patients. The percentages of patients without evidence of illicit opioid use at six months were 85.7% for Probuphine and 71.9% for sublingual buprenorphine.

The company said the study also demonstrated that patients who were clinically stable on sublingual buprenorphine remained stable when switched to the implant.