Patients presenting to sexual health services who are also receiving treatment with long acting depot buprenorphine.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia has approved two long-acting injected depot buprenorphine medications: Buvidal™ and Sublocade™ The Buvidal™ product was listed on the PBS on 1 September 2019. '
Increasing numbers of patients may present for treatment at NSW health services who are also receiving treatment with depot buprenorphine.
Buvidal™ is a modified release formulation of buprenorphine which is administered via subcutaneous (SC) injection in weekly or monthly intervals.
Sublocade™ is an extended-release formulation of buprenorphine which is administered via subcutaneous injection in monthly intervals.
Buprenorphine, through its properties as a partial agonist at opioid receptors, may reduce the effects of opioid analgesics. Adequate analgesia may be more difficult to achieve when administering opioids to patients on depot buprenorphine. Opioids can be used for analgesia but doses will need to be titrated carefully against clinical response. Consultation with Pain Services or Drug and Alcohol Specialists is recommended.
There are a number of clinically relevant drug-drug interactions (DDIs) that could occur for patients on depot buprenorphine. Some of these include:
Though depot buprenorphine is administered weekly or monthly, plasma concentrations of buprenorphine slowly reduce after the injection and may remain at levels that cause at least some opioid partial agonist effects for up to 20 weeks in some people, depending on dose and duration of treatment. There may therefore be a persisting though reducing effect on analgesia requirements and DDIs for many weeks after the drug is administered.
In the first week after administration of Sublocade™ a small collection may be palpated. Mostly however, neither product is noticeable on external examination. Patients have been encouraged to carry and present a wallet card explaining their depot buprenorphine treatment status. However, patients might be reluctant to disclose that they are on depot buprenorphine due to previous experiences of stigmatisation or discrimination by health workers. Respectfully explaining why you need to know about medications including depot buprenorphine, and maintaining a non-judgemental approach to their drug use, helps improve the accuracy of the history obtained.
When a patient presents who has been receiving depot buprenorphine, clinicians should, as is usual with patients on opioid replacement therapy, confirm last dosing details in order to inform safe treatment. This includes recent dosing history, the date of last dose, the dose received and when the next dose is due.
The NSW Drug and Alcohol Specialist Advisory Service (DASAS) is a 24/7 helpline that enables health professionals to get advice from specialist alcohol and other drug medical and clinical nurse consultants on any drug and alcohol clinical issues. DASAS clinicians will provide advice on clinical issues related to depot buprenorphine.
Phone DASAS: Sydney metropolitan: (02) 9361 8006; Regional and rural NSW: 1800 023 687
Clinical Guidelines for use of Depot Buprenorphine have been published by the Ministry of Health.
