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Long Acting Buprenorphine Injection Compared to Sublingual Buprenorphine/Naloxone Films

A Randomized Pilot Study of Long Acting Buprenorphine Injection Compared to Sublingual Buprenorphine/Naloxone Films

Status
Withdrawn
Phases
Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03744663
Enrollment
0
Registered
2018-11-16
Start date
2022-06-30
Completion date
2022-12-31
Last updated
2022-06-06

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Opioid Use

Keywords

opioid, Opioid Agonist Treatment, buprenorphine, substance abuse, drug, abstinence

Brief summary

While substance use disorders have been found to have relapse rates on part with other chronic illnesses such as hypertension and asthma long term abstinence remains elusive for many. The FDA has recently approve a long acting subcutaneous injectable formulation of buprenorphine. This study aims to determine the feasibility of enrolling and randomizing patients seeking treatment at an outpatient substance abuse clinic to buprenorphine/naloxone films which dissolve under the tongue vs. long acting buprenorphine injection with all other treatment aspects held constant. The study also aims to determine the effectiveness of monthly injections of Sublocade® compared to daily oral Suboxone® SL therapy in the treatment of moderate to severe opioid use disorder after twenty-four weeks of treatment.

Detailed description

While substance use disorders have been found to have relapse rates on part with other chronic illnesses such as hypertension and asthma long term abstinence remains elusive for many. Fortunately, the FDA has recently approved a long acting subcutaneous injectable formulation of buprenorphine. While this drug has proven effective in retaining patients in care and decreasing drug cravings as compared to placebo, this drug has not been tested in a real world clinic setting and no studies exist comparing it to the current formulations of buprenorphine. The objective of this study is to perform a randomized pilot study directly comparing sublingual buprenorphine/naloxone to long acting buprenorphine subdermal injection in a standard Office-Based Opioid Agonist Treatment (OBOT) clinic. The study team will compare patient retention, percentage of negative urinary drug screens, and withdrawal scores between the two groups. The findings will provide insight for US providers seeking more effective and efficient ways to treat Opioid use disorder (OUD) in the outpatient setting.

Interventions

DRUGSuboxone® SL

Subjects will be started and titrated to optimal Suboxone® SL dose for 14 days. After the 14 day induction phase, the subject will be started on the treatment to which they were randomized to two groups one of which will be Suboxone® SL.

DRUGSublocade®

Subjects will be started and titrated to optimal Suboxone® SL dose for 14 days. After the 14 day induction phase, the subject will be started on the treatment to which they were randomized, either Suboxone® SL or Sublocade®. Subjects with significant opioid craving (\> 20 mm on the Opioid Craving Visual Analog Scale) or withdrawal (a score of \> 12 on the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale) after 14 days of treatment will be started on Sublocade® only at the consensus of the research team. Otherwise they will undergo an additional 7 day titration period. Study drug with Sublocade® group: Patients assigned to this group will receive the study drug (300 mg subcutaneously) every 4 weeks for a total of 6 doses along with weekly therapy. The location and specifications of its application will follow the recommendations by the FDA previously published.

Sponsors

Wake Forest University Health Sciences
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

Patients admitted to the WFBMC Medication-Assisted-Therapy (MAT) clinic with a diagnosis of moderate/severe Opioid-Use Disorders (OUD) who are more than 18 years old will be approached for enrollment in this study. Because of the nature of a pilot study, it's proposed a total of 30 patients, 15 in each group. Subjects will be started and titrated to optimal Suboxone® SL dose for 14 days. After the 14 day, the subject will be started on the treatment to which they are randomized, either Suboxone® SL or Sublocade®. Control group -Suboxone®SL: Patients assigned to this group will continue with their already established dose of Suboxone ®SL films for 24 weeks along with weekly therapy. Study drug-Sublocade® group: Patients assigned to this group will receive the study drug (subcutaneously) every 4 weeks for a total of 6 doses along with weekly therapy. At the end of the 24-weeks subjects will continue the medication of their choice within the constraints of their insurance provider.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Subjects who present to the WFBMC Medication-Assisted-Therapy (MAT) clinic seeking OBOT.

Exclusion criteria

* Those patients who have: * history of cirrhosis, \>= CKD stage 3 * congenital long QT syndrome * those on antiarrhythmic medications * liver enzymes more than 2 times the upper normal value at baseline assessment * elevated bilirubin * chronic pulmonary condition * current unstable and untreated psychiatry comorbid disorder * pregnant * use of benzodiazepines/other CNS depressant medications

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Number of Weeks patients continued in treatment during trial period26 weeksRetention in weeks
Number of Participants that Dropout during the first 28 days of Treatmentfirst 28 daysNumber of participants that leave the study
Number of participants that complete of the treatment phase26 weeksNumber of participants that complete the study
Number of participants who did not complete the trial in their assigned group26 weeksTotal number of participants that changed arms
Percentage of negative urinary drug screens26 weekspercentage of participants that have a negative drug screen
Liver enzyme values - ALP, AST, ALT26 weeksValues of liver enzymes will be measured: Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP), Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), and Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT). Values will be reported in IU/L
Liver enzyme values- Total Bilirubin26 weeksValues of liver enzymes will be measured: Total Bilirubin. Values will be reported in mg/dL
Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS) scores trends26 weeksWithdrawal symptoms scale- total score 0-48 with a lower score denoting no symptoms (better Outcomes) and higher score denoting more withdrawal symptoms
Subjective Opiate Withdrawal Scale (SOWS) score trends26 weeksParticipant survey for how they are feeling during withdrawal period, score range from 0 to 64. Low score denotes no/less perceived symptoms (better outcomes) and higher score denotes high/ more personal perceived symptoms.
Number or patients still in medication assisted therapy (MAT) clinic 6 months after trial period ends.6 monthsNumber of patients still in MAT clinics at 6 months
Number of participants death6 monthsNumber of Participants deaths 6 months after initial participant consent is given.as measured by Vital Statistics database

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026