20 Business View Magazine - June 2016
Opening
Lines
ministration, patients receiving MAT for their opioid
use disorder cut their risk of death from all causes
in half.
“Scientific evidence suggests that maintenance
treatment with these medications in the context
of behavioral treatment and recovery support are
more effective in the treatment of opioid use disor-
der than short-term detoxification programs aimed
at abstinence,” said Nora Volkow, M.D., Director of
the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National
Institutes of Health. “This product will expand the
treatment alternatives available to people suffering
from an opioid use disorder.”
Probuphine should be used as part of a complete
treatment program that includes counseling and
psychosocial support. Probuphine consists of four,
one-inch-long rods that are implanted under the skin
on the inside of the upper arm and provide treatment
for six months. Administering Probuphine requires
specific training because it must be surgically insert-
ed and removed. Only a health care provider who
has completed the training and become certified
through a restricted program called the Probuphine
Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) pro-
gram should insert and remove the implants. If fur-
ther treatment is needed, new implants may be in-
serted in the opposite arm for one additional course
