FDA Approves First Implant Treatment For Opioid Addiction (bloomberg.com)

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Bloomberg: The Food and Drug Administration cleared the first implant in the U.S. to treat heroin and opioid painkiller addictions. The product, Probuphine, may be used to treat addicts continuously for six months with the drug buprenorphine, according to a statement from the agency on Thursday. Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc. and partner Braeburn Pharmaceuticals are the two companies behind the implant and plan to bring it to the market just as Congress passed a bill aimed at addressing the opioid crisis. Buprenorphine differs from methadone in that it doesn't require a treatment program. Doctors can prescribe the implant to patients after they take a four-hour training program. The FDA rejected the implant in 2013 because the original dose that the companies proposed was too low to provide effective treatment. The companies decided to maintain the lower dose and attempt to gain approval by restricting use to patients who already were stable on such amounts. Meanwhile, employers are struggling to find workers who can pass a pre-employment drug test.

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[Anonymous Coward]

So really, this is no different than treating nicotine addiction with more nicotine (ie. gums and patches, etc).

There's a reason we don't treat alcoholics with whiskey.

A real junky will rip that implant right out from under their skin, break it open, and shoot up the contents. If you think the fact this is implanted will prevent this, you have never had to deal with a heroin addict. They'd cut their skill open if that's where the implant is.