Buprenorphine (BUP) is FDA-approved for the treatment of opioid withdrawal and opioid use
disorder. Few ED providers have received the necessary DEA registration (aka X waiver)
required to prescribe BUP, and urgent appointments to continue ongoing BUP treatment may not
be readily available, thus leading to medication discontinuity. A loading dose induction
strategy with 32mg of BUP may help effectively link ED patients to outpatient treatment while
minimizing known barriers to ED uptake. Administering a "loading dose" of BUP to saturate
mu-opioid receptors would extend the duration of action and provide additional time to secure
ongoing treatment. Further, BUP's ceiling effect on respiratory depression makes it a
remarkably safe drug even at high doses. In recent years, ED providers have begun to
incorporate this approach into clinical protocols, however, it has not been formally studied
in this clinical setting. The investigator's study represents the necessary step of studying
this novel approach in the ED setting to define the parameters for clinical protocols and
large-scale studies.
Phase:
Phase 4
Details
Lead Sponsor:
NYU Langone Health
Collaborator:
Emergency Medicine Foundation
Treatments:
Buprenorphine Buprenorphine, Naloxone Drug Combination Naloxone