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= Addiction Control Medicine = From Zoe Collins

Addiction Control Medicines are partial antagonist synthetic opioids that control addiction by binding to receptors while only allowing a partially functional response to the drug. They are used to treat and manage opioid addictions. Which is a chronic disease that is classified by the controlling desire to obtain and abuse an opioid, a lack of control in the amount of the drug taken, and adverse effects when the opioid is not taken regularly. According to the National Institute on Drug Addiction, opioid addictions resulted in 51,000 deaths worldwide in 2013, up from 18,000 deaths in 1990.[1]

A combination of Buprenorphine and Naloxone are used to treat opioid addiction. The medicine is sold and marketed under the names Cizdol, Suboxone, and Subute.

Addiction Control
Medications such as Buprenorphine and Naloxone work to control addiction by forcing a patient to detox. Buprenorphine is a partial antagonist, a drug that binds to a given receptor but only allows for a partial response relative to a full antagonist. When taken intravenously it quickly induces withdrawal symptoms, once these symptoms have passed the patient is moved to a steady regime of tablets to alleviate cravings, stem father withdrawal symptoms, and prevent the euphoric effects of opioids. The pharmaceutical company Indivior, the leading producer of Suboxone, have done studies that have shown 40-65% of patients are able to complete stop all opioid use while receiving treatment, and 70-95% drastically decreased their use of opioids.

Chronic Pain
The same medications can be used to manage chronic pain. A transdermal patch can be applied to the effected area and directly works to control pain.

Neonatal Dependance
Recent research has shown that Buprenorphine can be used to help newborns born with neonatal absence syndrome overcome symptoms of withdrawals. Neonatal absence syndrome is a disorder in infants who were exposed to opioids during the pregnancy, and can experience withdrawal after they are born.[4] This treatment is still in FDA approved clinical trials.[4]

Side Effects
Buprenorphine is a synthetic semi functional opioid, as a result the side effects are similar to those caused by opioids. Such as: nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, memory loss, headache, cognitive inhibition, perspiration, dry mouth, decreased libido, shrinking of the pupils, and ejaculatory difficulty.

Risk of Farther Addiction
Treatment of opioid addiction by buprenorphine does have a risk of causing dependence, both psychological and physical. Buprenorphine has a mild effect and is a slow acting drug, however, it does have a long acting half life of 24 to 60 hours and as such stays in the patient’s system for some time. If a patient does develop an addiction to the buprenorphine there are two possible treatments. One is to continue use on a strict and professionally managed schedule, the other is to submit the patient to a medically supervised withdrawal from the medication.

Discovery and Development
In 1969 Reckitt & Colman began research into the potential development of a synthetic opioid more powerful than morphine that would retain the positive aspects and lose the adverse side effects.[5] They were unable to overcome the issues of withdrawal and physical dependence, due to the long acting opioid nature of the product. Trials on humans began in 1971 after the synthesized RX6029 was found to lower dependence in animals.

Approval
In the late 1990’s into early 2000’s, before the approval of Buprenorphine in the United States, Congress passed the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000). This allowed physics to obtain a waiver, upon the completion of an eight-hour course, which allowed them to prescribe anti-addiction drugs to those in need, and treat them in an out patient setting. This was the first time something of this nature was created. When the Act was first passed physicians were limited to treating just ten patients, this was raised to 100 soon after. Only now under the Obama Administration has the number been raised to 275 patients per physician. This low patient limit means that for the majority addicts they do not have access to the drug, and therefore are unable to receive the extremely effective benefits.

It was not until 2006 that Buprenorphine was approved by the European Union.