Author: TeeJay

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:47 am

Probuphine – the Titan implant – has been given priority review status from the FDA, meaning we could see implants being prescribed in October … at least in the US. I’ve been following the implants pretty closely because living with an implant would make my life a lot easier. I’m in a country where my Suboxone is dispensed from the pharmacy on a daily basis, until I got "privileges" to get take-away doses (up to 5 per week). So I have to go to the pharmacy twice a week at least. The implant would remove that need entirely, would mean I wouldn’t need that yucky gunk in my mouth for up to 45 minutes twice a day, and it’d provide stable levels of bupe in the bloodstream over 24 hours which would pretty much stop my rapid metabolism issues.

I think they propose to use Subutex / Suboxone in conjunction with the implant to work out dose leveling. ie if a person gets the implant and finds they’re still getting cravings, and requires doses of Suboxone to supplement the implant, they can go and get another implant chucked in. But overall there’d only be 3 levels of dose – 1, 2, or 3 implants at a time. Also having a stable level of buprenorphine in the blood means no opportunity to use other opioids and get any effect, esp for fast metabolisers of Sub.