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tdubz



Registered: 02/26/12
Posts: 5,586
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This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem
#23835376 - 11/15/16 12:30 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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https://motherboard.vice.com/read/this-tiny-plastic-implant-may-disrupt-americas-opioid-addiction-problem-probuphine
It was only after Sarah Wilson’s parents accused her husband of stealing from them that she came clean about her opioid problem. The Jacksonville mother of four was hit by a drunk driver in 2008, leaving her with significant nerve damage in her back. Wilson worked as a police dispatcher and her insurance was good and publicly funded, but eventually she had to give up her career as the pain became too much for her to bear.
“It got to the point where my legs were giving out from under me,” Wilson said. “I couldn’t feel my hands. I lost my health insurance and eventually my doctor told me I couldn’t afford treatments anymore, but I could afford narcotic painkillers.”
Wilson’s doctors prescribed her hydrocodone, a widely-used opioid pain medication, but as her tolerance grew, so did the order. Eventually her doctor was prescribing her the maximum legal dosage he could, and before long she developed a dependency.
“My own personal beliefs on people that suffered from addiction wasn’t the greatest,” Wilson told me. “I always thought, ‘Oh, they should just put it down,’ even though I had relatives that suffered from the disease. I was jaded about it.”
Read more: This Microchip Will Deliver Drugs in Your Body by Remote Control
Wilson diverted family funds to source drugs from more questionable corners, and at the peak of her addiction was taking 30 pills a day. Occasionally she’d try to rally, but like so many others in chronic pain there was only so much she could do. She recognized she’d become dependent, “but I was also hurting,” she said. “Somedays I would wake up and say, ‘Okay, I’m not going to take anything.’ But then I’d have chills, I’d be vomiting, and I’d be in pain as well.”
Eventually the Wilsons lost their home, forcing Sarah to move back in with her parents. At her lowest, she pawned off some of her mother’s jewelry, which proved to be the final straw.
“When they accused [my husband] I was immediately like, ‘No, it’s not him. It was me, and this is why,’” she explained. “Who wants to believe it’s their own child?”
Wilson, finally, took her family’s advice and checked into a rehab clinic. Her doctors prescribed her Buprenorphine, a common semisynthetic opioid medication specifically designed to mollify opioid dependency. Every night Wilson put a tablet under her tongue, let it dissolve, and woke up to live another day. She’s still in pain, but said she hasn’t relapsed in almost four years since she got clean. Wilson told me that she intends to take anti-opioid medicine for the rest of her life, which is why she signed up for a clinical trial of a new product called Probuphine.
Probuphine isn’t a drug as much as it’s a novel way to administer treatment. In a 15-minute in-office visit, a doctor will insert four white, tube-like flexible implants into a patient’s upper arm. Those implants are each the size of a matchstick and will drip-feed Buprenorphine directly into the bloodstream and up to the brain. The drug will then fasten onto the same neural receptors triggered by heroin or prescription narcotic painkiller use, effectively curbing one's desire to get high. The implants will be replaced every six months. Think of it like a microscopic IV with no physical traces. The convenience is the primary perk—Probuphine patients don’t have to worry about remembering their pills or refilling their prescriptions. But Wilson was drawn to its safety.
“I was 100 percent onboard because I’m a mom. Even though the drug itself is a life-saver for me and my family, we had it in a locked safe, because it scares me having it in the house,” she said. “Like, if one of my kids got a hold of it, or if our house got broken into and somebody else got a hold of it, [with the implant] I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”
Probuphine can only be prescribed to those who’ve already successfully been on traditional Buprenorphine treatment in order to make sure patients aren’t rushed to mismatched treatment. But the promise is still intriguing. Probuphine was featured in a double-blind, double-dummy phase III clinical trial earlier this year. The trials were overseen by Dr. Richard Rosenthal, a psychiatrist at New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital, who told CBS Evening News that what excites him most about Probuphine is that it's “a new weapon in our armamentarium to fight drug addiction.”
“The risk of relapse is reduced,” he added, “because you're not going to miss a dose.”
Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, the company that manufactures Probuphine, reported “significant superiority for the implant versus the oral formulation” during the trials. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in May.
Behshad Sheldon, CEO of Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, told me implant-based medicine could be applied to any chronic condition that requires daily maintenance.
“We have heard of people who use Probuphine to protect them from their future selves,” Sheldon said. “They might think, ‘Right now I’m really determined to not use, but in three days I might slip up. It’s easier if I had to make the choice to take the medicine to not take it.’ There are people who use this medication who like that idea.”
Anyone who’s ever been on long-term medication knows how difficult it can be to stay disciplined between side effects, scheduling, and the loose, wax-and-wane bell curve of the therapeutic duration. But what if, someday, the very concept of a daily prescription becomes a thing of the past? That was the primary perk for another recovering opioid addict who was involved in the Probuphine trials.
“I felt fine, honestly,” said the patient, a firefighter who requested anonymity. “I just felt normal. Sometimes I’d take my [medication] early one morning and then not so much the following day, but with the Probuphine I just felt right all the time.”
Sheldon said that there are already implant products for people with schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder. According to Sheldon this is where the industry is headed.
“I do think this is the wave of the future,” Sheldon said. “A lot pharma companies are looking [at implants] for things even beyond mental health like long-term infections. There’s even one looking at an implant for diabetes.”
But others aren’t as convinced about the treatment’s efficacy and safety. Diana Zuckerman is a former post-doctoral fellow at Yale Medical School and currently serves as the president of the Washington, DC-based think tank The National Center of Health Research, which recently noted gaps in Probuphine’s trials.
“I think the big issue is the transition,” said Zuckerman, who was not involved with the trials. “People are going to go from taking pills to using this implant. The implant doesn’t work immediately. It takes a while for it to work and settle into the level that it’s supposed to be. And during that time the person is still going to be taking pills, and that becomes a vulnerable time. How many pills should that person take before the implant is really working, and should they continue to take pills after it’s working?“
“It takes a while for it to work and settle into the level that it’s supposed to be. And during that time the person is still going to be taking pills“ According to Zuckerman, medical companies rarely have the motivation to do research once a treatment has been approved by the FDA. At the end of the day, her main concern is that a subdermal implant like Probuphine treats opioid addicts with more opioids.
“Obviously we’ve got a huge problem in this country, and we’ve got to find a way, and I think step number one is to prevent people from becoming addicted by having doctors not prescribe [opioids] so loosely,” Zuckerman said. “But step number two is finding out a better way to help people once they’re addicted. We don’t seem to have a good handle on that.”
The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that some 2.1 million Americans are dependent on prescription opioids like Percocet and Oxycontin. The Center for Disease Control has called it an epidemic. Like so many other addicts, Sarah Wilson’s story isn’t about someone being reckless. She’s a mother who got the raw end of a deal.
“The doctor was between a rock and a hard place,” Wilson said, describing the moment she was first prescribed painkillers. “I had no health insurance, I didn’t qualify for state-funded health insurance, and I was hurting. He had an oath to do no harm, and he was helping me to not hurt.”
It can be easy to categorize the US opioid epidemic in a seedy, faraway place where good morals and prudence will always conquer. But opioid dependency finds everyday people. Probuphine is making the disease easier for some of those addicts to live with, but treatment, which costs an estimated $6000 per six-month session, is only one part of recovery.
“Going through this experience has really opened my eyes. I hate to say that I needed to be knocked down a notch or two, but I definitely have a greater appreciation for people who are battling it,” said Wilson. “Especially people who’ve been battling it for 15 or 20 years. This technology is so new, I can’t imagine what it’d be like to be battling it for that long. It’s just amazing how your perception of a situation can be changed once you’ve been through it.”
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thehighking
Shaman

Registered: 11/04/16
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: tdubz]
#23836307 - 11/15/16 05:30 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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The pharmaceutical companies will never allow this to be legal. They managed to ban natural medicines, this should be a piece of cake for those bastards
-------------------- "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one" Albert Einstein
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UltraLiveResin
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: thehighking] 1
#23836377 - 11/15/16 05:55 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Its just another way to extend the patent like when suboxone turned into suboxone film
What happens if this thing shatters in your arm.. do you get 6 months of doses at once? They probably figured a way around it, but would still freak me out
Edited by UltraLiveResin (11/15/16 05:57 PM)
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ChemicalSpark


Registered: 10/08/15
Posts: 2,057
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: UltraLiveResin]
#23836555 - 11/15/16 07:00 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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.
Edited by ChemicalSpark (03/23/20 09:03 PM)
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musiclover420
psychonaut



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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: UltraLiveResin]
#23836740 - 11/15/16 08:02 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
UltraLiveResin said: Its just another way to extend the patent like when suboxone turned into suboxone film
What happens if this thing shatters in your arm.. do you get 6 months of doses at once? They probably figured a way around it, but would still freak me out
I was wondering the same thing. Also if it is controllable via remote control then I imagine it could malfunction in other ways.
People might even be able to somehow hack and remotely activate them depending on how they are built.
She probably would have been better of just taking kratom but whatever works for her I guess...
Needing to take "anti opoiods" for the rest of your life seems like it could be problematic in other ways.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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tdubz



Registered: 02/26/12
Posts: 5,586
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: musiclover420]
#23836899 - 11/15/16 08:52 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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This technology isn't really new it's been around for awhile, people with chronic pain can get something similar that delivers pain medicine around the clock implanted into them although this is much smaller than anything I've heard of.
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 16,693
Loc: Raccoon City
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: tdubz]
#23840027 - 11/16/16 08:48 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
“I think the big issue is the transition,” said Zuckerman, who was not involved with the trials. “People are going to go from taking pills to using this implant. The implant doesn’t work immediately. It takes a while for it to work and settle into the level that it’s supposed to be.
He doesn't want to use the word, withdrawals, shock, or what outwardly appears to be a fear of dying.
Based on what addicts describe to me, the problems begin when their customary dose is no longer effective.
This article says that they will not abuse drugs, because the device maintains a constant dose.
Does it keep them from raising their hand, to their mouth?
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travelleler
a horse-fart in a hurricane



Registered: 08/30/08
Posts: 3,955
Loc: yonder mountains
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: durian_2008]
#23843345 - 11/17/16 08:26 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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so the solution for Americas Opioid addiction is a suboxone pump?? What could go wrong?
Sheesh.
--------------------

"Whales have deep thoughts"
Dreams are the fuel of the soul
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Magicman69
All About the Benjamins


Registered: 05/29/13
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: durian_2008]
#23864813 - 11/24/16 10:01 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
durian_2008 said:
Quote:
“I think the big issue is the transition,” said Zuckerman, who was not involved with the trials. “People are going to go from taking pills to using this implant. The implant doesn’t work immediately. It takes a while for it to work and settle into the level that it’s supposed to be.
He doesn't want to use the word, withdrawals, shock, or what outwardly appears to be a fear of dying.
Based on what addicts describe to me, the problems begin when their customary dose is no longer effective.
This article says that they will not abuse drugs, because the device maintains a constant dose.
Does it keep them from raising their hand, to their mouth?
Suboxone is different. You don't need to keep raising your dose because there is no real high to begin with. At least not for someone who's already dependent, an opiate naive person can get really high. Buprenorphine also has a much higher affinity than all other opiates so you wouldn't feel a shot of heroin for instance. Instead Suboxone users often take benzos to get high or go in the opposite route and start doing speed\coke now that their opiates cravings are handled.
I think it should be a requirement that all new suboxone and methadone patients try Ibogaine first. Those maintenance opiates should be the last resort because 9\10 you'll never get off them. Ibogaine may only save a small percentage but that's still a ton of people who actually got better and healed themselves rather than remained constantly medicated.
Edited by Magicman69 (11/24/16 10:14 PM)
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fapjack
Title



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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: tdubz]
#23865301 - 11/25/16 06:24 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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This is going to disrupt America's opioid addiction? Fucking VICE and their sensationalist headlines... This is another form of America's opioid addiction, bupe is an opioid.
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howsyournaggerdoin
Happy


Registered: 02/04/16
Posts: 1,600
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: Magicman69]
#23865333 - 11/25/16 06:48 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Magicman69 said:
Quote:
durian_2008 said:
Quote:
“I think the big issue is the transition,” said Zuckerman, who was not involved with the trials. “People are going to go from taking pills to using this implant. The implant doesn’t work immediately. It takes a while for it to work and settle into the level that it’s supposed to be.
He doesn't want to use the word, withdrawals, shock, or what outwardly appears to be a fear of dying.
Based on what addicts describe to me, the problems begin when their customary dose is no longer effective.
This article says that they will not abuse drugs, because the device maintains a constant dose.
Does it keep them from raising their hand, to their mouth?
Suboxone is different. You don't need to keep raising your dose because there is no real high to begin with. At least not for someone who's already dependent, an opiate naive person can get really high. Buprenorphine also has a much higher affinity than all other opiates so you wouldn't feel a shot of heroin for instance. Instead Suboxone users often take benzos to get high or go in the opposite route and start doing speed\coke now that their opiates cravings are handled.
I think it should be a requirement that all new suboxone and methadone patients try Ibogaine first. Those maintenance opiates should be the last resort because 9\10 you'll never get off them. Ibogaine may only save a small percentage but that's still a ton of people who actually got better and healed themselves rather than remained constantly medicated.
AFAIK they dont use ibogaine because it isnt physically safe.
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fapjack
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: Magicman69]
#23865559 - 11/25/16 09:47 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Magicman69 said:
Quote:
durian_2008 said:
Quote:
“I think the big issue is the transition,” said Zuckerman, who was not involved with the trials. “People I think it should be a requirement that all new suboxone and methadone patients try Ibogaine first. Those maintenance opiates should be the last resort because 9\10 you'll never get off them. Ibogaine may only save a small percentage but that's still a ton of people who actually got better and healed themselves rather than remained constantly medicated.
Force people to take ibogaine before other types of treatment? That sounds like a horrible idea...
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musiclover420
psychonaut



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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: howsyournaggerdoin]
#23865638 - 11/25/16 10:22 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
howsyournaggerdoin said: AFAIK they dont use ibogaine because it isnt physically safe.
And opiates are?
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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durian_2008
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: Magicman69]
#23866056 - 11/25/16 01:32 PM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
“I think the big issue is the transition,” said Zuckerman, who was not involved with the trials. “People are going to go from taking pills to using this implant. The implant doesn’t work immediately. It takes a while for it to work and settle into the level that it’s supposed to be.
Quote:
durian_2008 said: He doesn't want to use the word, withdrawals, shock, or what outwardly appears to be a fear of dying.
Based on what addicts describe to me, the problems begin when their customary dose is no longer effective.
This article says that they will not abuse drugs, because the device maintains a constant dose.
Does it keep them from raising their hand, to their mouth?
Quote:
Magicman69 said: Suboxone is different.
I realize that half-life is a factor. 
But, those tragically-long lists of side effects are telling me it's still an opiate, and all that goes with opiates.
Quote:
Magicman69 said: I think it should be a requirement that all new suboxone and methadone patients try Ibogaine first.
Trial by fire.
The iboga method is supposed to fix them by deprogramming, to the best of my understanding, but talking to addicts, on a day-to-day basis, is like trying to nail gello to a wall.
If anyone can offer any insight, without self-incriminating, I would like to learn more.
But, I still feel there is a moral element.
I mean, many of these people have no concept of objective morality, when in consensus reality.
Someone has to be morally accountable, to make proper sense of a synesthetic reverie?
Does iboga change their (normally-objectionable) character?

I don't know everything.
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howsyournaggerdoin
Happy


Registered: 02/04/16
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: musiclover420]
#23874031 - 11/28/16 01:28 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
musiclover420 said:
Quote:
howsyournaggerdoin said: AFAIK they dont use ibogaine because it isnt physically safe.
And opiates are? 
Thats the reasoning the pharmaceutical companys use. They probably would rather have people die from a medication thats known to be dangerous than from a new one.
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musiclover420
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: howsyournaggerdoin]
#23874034 - 11/28/16 01:32 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
howsyournaggerdoin said:
Quote:
musiclover420 said:
Quote:
howsyournaggerdoin said: AFAIK they dont use ibogaine because it isnt physically safe.
And opiates are? 
Thats the reasoning the pharmaceutical companys use. They probably would rather have people die from a medication thats known to be dangerous than from a new one.
How do you account from all the dangerous new medications that have come out over the years then?
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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howsyournaggerdoin
Happy


Registered: 02/04/16
Posts: 1,600
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: musiclover420]
#23874072 - 11/28/16 02:18 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
musiclover420 said:
Quote:
howsyournaggerdoin said:
Quote:
musiclover420 said:
Quote:
howsyournaggerdoin said: AFAIK they dont use ibogaine because it isnt physically safe.
And opiates are? 
Thats the reasoning the pharmaceutical companys use. They probably would rather have people die from a medication thats known to be dangerous than from a new one.
How do you account from all the dangerous new medications that have come out over the years then?
Like ?
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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
Posts: 19,563
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: howsyournaggerdoin]
#23874190 - 11/28/16 04:46 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
howsyournaggerdoin said: Like ?
Are you kidding me? Pretty much every time I watch TV there are a ton of commercials about new medications with new long ass lists of serious side effects 
The Boondocks - Zortafrinex
This pretty much sums up the majority of ads I see for new medications.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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howsyournaggerdoin
Happy


Registered: 02/04/16
Posts: 1,600
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: musiclover420]
#23874212 - 11/28/16 05:27 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Side effects are ok as long as people survive treatment because people dieing is a PR desaster.
Also advertisement for (most) pharmaceutical drugs is banned in my country so i dont know those ads
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Byrain

Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 9,664
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Re: This Tiny Plastic Implant May Disrupt America’s Opioid Addiction Problem [Re: musiclover420] 1
#23874343 - 11/28/16 07:16 AM (7 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
musiclover420 said: How do you account from all the dangerous new medications that have come out over the years then?
Many people could potentially grow or distribute ibogaine to those that need it at very little cost. Very few people could do the same for pharmaceutical drugs which are created in corporate laboratories. This is not about how safe, unsafe or even effective the drugs are. Its about control, money and power over the drugs. The goal is to maintain their monopolies, not help people.
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