%0 Journal Article %T Superiority of Buprenorphine over Suboxone in Preventing Addiction Relapse in Opioid Addicts under Maintenance Therapy: A Double-Blind Clinical Trial %J Asia Pacific Journal of Medical Toxicology %I Mashhad University of Medical Sciences %Z 2322-2611 %A Shojaei Ghalehney, Zahra %A Ilbeigi, Shahram %A Arshadi, Hamid Reza %A Afshari, Reza %D 2018 %\ 03/20/2018 %V 7 %N 1 %P 1-6 %! Superiority of Buprenorphine over Suboxone in Preventing Addiction Relapse in Opioid Addicts under Maintenance Therapy: A Double-Blind Clinical Trial %K Buprenorphine %K Naloxone Drug Combination %K Opioid-Related Disorders %K Recurrence %R 10.22038/apjmt.2018.10723 %X Background: In maintenance therapy for opioid addiction, to reduce the risk of buprenorphine (BUP) abuse, the combination of BUP and naloxone (NX) has been developed and is commercially available as suboxone (BUP/NX). This study was designed to compare addiction relapse frequency in patients receiving BUP and BUP/NX as maintenance therapy. Methods: In this double-blind clinical trial with cross over design, 100 opioid abusers were randomly assigned to two treatment groups to receive either BUP or BUP/NX. After three months, without a time-out period, subjects undertook treatment with the other drug. The subjects were screened weekly for urinary morphine. Results: In each of the study arms, when the patients were given BUP/NX, the number of relapses was significantly higher compared to when they received BUP (0.13±0.24 vs. 0.04±0.09, P = 0.001). If participants’ age was taken into account, the number of relapses was significantly higher when BUP/NX was given in age groups of 31 to 40 years and over 50 years (P < 0.05). The length of addiction had also a significant impact on the number of relapses, i.e., patients with over 10-year history of addiction had higher number of relapses if they were given BUP/NX compared with BUP (P < 0.05). Conclusion:BUP seems to be more effective than BUP/NX in preventing addiction relapse in opioid abusers under maintenance treatment. %U https://apjmt.mums.ac.ir/article_10723_bd4c4bdad72a2c7dd3e9cdefe6e99acd.pdf