Suboxone History

Despite the many changes in medicine over the past 6000 years, one thing that has not changed is that opioids are still regarded as highly effective, well-tolerated analgesics. Ongoing demand for pain relievers has led to the development of stronger, longer-acting medications, most of which are opioid based. As the potency of opioid pain relievers has increased, so has patients’ risk of becoming physically or psychologically dependent on them—even when the medications are taken as directed.

From Methadone to Suboxone

President Nixon formed the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1973 – the same year The Methadone Control Act was introduced. For about 10 years prior, physicians could prescribe methadone which was discovered to help addicted patients stay off heroin and other opioids.

A person addicted to heroin must inject about every four to six hours to prevent withdrawal. Some users would run out of money and commit crimes to support their addiction. Methadone, a synthetic opioid, allowed for 24 hour dosing. Doctors saw this as life-saving and crime reducing. Then the Methadone Control Act was introduced and limited doctors from this practice.

Some say it was a way for the Nixon Administration to somehow take credit for the doctor’s discovery of treating addicted patients with methadone. The Act imposed conditions requiring patients to go to a clinic for dispensing of methadone daily. They could no longer get a prescription from their doctor, but instead forced together with other addicted people to get treated at the same place and at about the same time. No thought was given to the implications of connecting thousands of people with addictions with each other or requiring daily trips to get medication. No other disease in history had been subjected to such a system nor has any since.

Recognition of the urgent public health need for opioid-dependence treatment alternatives was one of the reasons Suboxone was developed in cooperation with the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

What is Suboxone and how was it Developed?

In 2001, opioid dependence accounted for 18 percent of all substance abuse treatment admissions, exceeding cocaine admissions for the 5th consecutive year. At present, the number of untreated opioid-dependent patients in the United States is believed to be at least 1.2 million.

The primary ingredient in Suboxone is buprenorphine which is a semi-synthetic opiate with partial agonist and antagonist actions. Buprenorphine hydrochloride was first marketed in the 1980s by Reckitt & Colman (now Reckitt Benckiser) as an analgesic, available generally as sublingual tablets, and as an injectable formulation. In 2000, Congress approved the Drug Addiction Treatment Act (DATA 2000), giving physicians the right to use approved opioids to treat opioid dependence in their offices. Prior to DATA 2000, this was illegal to do outside a hospital or clinic.

Use of Suboxone Worldwide

In October 2002, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Suboxone and Subutex, buprenorphine’s high-dose sublingual pill preparations for opioid addiction, and as such the drug is now also used for this purpose. France approved buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid dependence in 1996. Australia followed in 2001.

Now approved in more than 30 countries, buprenorphine is marketed in the United States under the brand names Suboxone and Subutex (buprenorphine HCl sublingual tablets).

In the European Union, Suboxone and Subutex, buprenorphine’s high-dose sublingual pill preparations were approved for opioid addiction treatment in September 2006. In the Netherlands, buprenorphine is a List II drug of the Opium Law, though special rules and guidelines apply to its prescription and dispensation. In the USA, it has been a Schedule III drug under the United Nations’ Convention on Psychotropic Substances since it was rescheduled from Schedule V just before FDA approval of Suboxone and Subutex. In recent years, buprenorphine has been introduced in most European countries as a transdermal formulation for the treatment of chronic pain.

Get Help for Suboxone Addiction

If you or someone you know is struggling with a Suboxone/opiate addiction and wants to stop Suboxone use, we can help. Please call our toll free number at (888) 371-5712. We are available 24 hours.
More About Suboxone Abuse

• Teen Suboxone Use
• What Suboxone Treats
• Effects of Suboxone
• Suboxone and Buprenorphine
• Watch this Suboxone abuse video