More opioid users stuck with methadone than gold-standard alternative, finds B.C. study

published on October 21, 2024 by Stefan Labbé in Burnaby Now

A B.C. study tracking more than 30,000 drug users over a decade has found patients prescribed the synthetic opioid methadone were up to 40 per cent more likely to stick to the treatment compared to the alternative front-line medication.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last week, used anonymous health data of nearly every patient prescribed either methadone or buprenorphine/naloxone, often sold under the brand name Suboxone.

Both drugs, which are covered under the province’s public health-care system, are prescribed to reduce opioid cravings and withdrawal symptoms without providing the euphoria that comes with illicit drugs.

“By not having that euphoric effect, it’s meant to bring back their quality of life, allowing them to work, repair the relationships in their lives,” said Bohdan Nosyk, the study’s lead author and a professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University…