Welcome to my Probuphine Implant Review article. On May 26th of 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Probuphine for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence.
The Probuphine Implant provides patients with six months of slow-release, steady levels of buprenorphine.
The Probuphine Implant was created to increase convenience and treatment retention, and decrease opioid use and diversion in persons who are already stable on low-to-moderate dosages of oral buprenorphine.
In this Comprehensive Probuphine Implant Review article, I will cover the following:
- Probuphine Implant Overview
- Probuphine Implant Pharmacological Effects
- Probuphine Implant Benefits
- Probuphine Implant Side Effects
- Probuphine Implant Cost
- Probuphine Implant Prescribing Criteria
The Opioid Epidemic & Buprenorphine
Before I provide detailed info on the Probuphine Implant, I believe it’s important to first inform you about certain events that led up to the creation and approval of Probuphine.
The U.S. opioid epidemic has been devastating our country for at least 20 years. In an effort to help mitigate the epidemic, in 2002, the medications Subutex and Suboxone were approved by the FDA for the treatment of opioid dependence.
Both medications contain an ingredient known as buprenorphine.
Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist.
When an individual with opioid dependence takes buprenorphine at the prescribed dosage their doctor provides, the medicine is able to prevent opioid withdrawal symptoms and cravings.
Buprenorphine accomplishes this by binding to the same opioid receptors in the body that drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, heroin, morphine, and other opioids bind to.
Over the years, a superabundance of individuals have used Subutex and Suboxone to quit their addictive patterns and establish lives free from illicit drug use.
However, since these buprenorphine formulations were only approved as a film or pill placed under the tongue or on the inside of a person’s cheek until it disolves – despite their effectiveness – the pill or film can be lost, stolen, forgotten, or even sold illegally on the black market.
Probuphine Implant Overview
In an effort to provide outpatient buprenorphine treatment that is more convenient and has less potential negative aspects associated with it, San Francisco-based Titan Pharmaceuticals and their partners Braeburn Pharmaceuticals based in Princeton, New Jersey – created Probuphine – which is now FDA-approved for the treatment of opioid dependence.
Probuphine consists of four, one-inch-long rods that are implanted under the skin on the inside of the upper arm.
The Probuphine Implant provides treatment for six months, thus making it more convenient for the patient than oral buprenorphine formulations – since they don’t need to visit the doctor’s office or pharmacy on a regular basis.
Administering the Probuphine Implant requires special training because it must be surgically inserted and removed.
The only invididulas that should insert and remove the Probuphine Implant are health care providers that have completed the training and are certified through a restricted program called the Probuphine Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) Program.
As I wrote earlier in the the article, Probuphine is a buprenorphine implant that provides six months of continuous, consistent levels of buprenorphine. This is achieved by ProNeura technology.
According to the Titan Pharmaceuticals website:
ProNeura offers continuous drug delivery and consists of a small, solid rod made from a mixture of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and a drug substance. The resulting product is a solid matrix that is placed subcutaneously, normally in the inner part of the upper arm in a simple office procedure, and is removed in a similar manner at the end of the treatment period.
The drug substance that is part of the ProNeura implant is released slowly into the patient’s body at continuous levels, through the process of dissolution. This results in a stable level of medication in the blood, similar to intravenous administration.”
With stable levels of medication in the blood, this prevents people from experiencing peak-and-trough level dosing. Many people that take oral formulations of buprenorphine experience slight withdrawal symptoms and cravings when the drug starts wearing off.
This can keep the addictive mind going, as patients are continuously having to take a drug everyday to feel normal and prevent withdrawal symptoms as well as cravings.
Using a buprenorphine implant with ProNeura technology prevents this negative aspect of buprenorphine treatment from occurring.
Due to the unique characteristics of Probuphine, there are five main benefits of using a buprenorphine implant rather than an oral formulation of the medicine.
Benefits of Probuphine:
- Lower risk of diversion
- Greater adherence
- Additional option for medication-assisted treatment
- Frequent travelers (no need for daily administration)
- Fewer office visits
Probuphine Side Effects
As with all medications, there is a possibility that you will experience some side effects. Probuphine has a list of minor and major side effects that people may experience.
Below I will provide you with a list of Probuphine side effects found on Drugs.com.
More common minor side effects:
- Back pain
- Cough or hoarseness
- Difficulty having a bowel movement (stool)
- Fever or chills
- Headache
- Lower back or side pain
- Nausea
- Painful or difficult urination
- Runny nose
- Sneezing
- Stomach pain
- Stuffy nose
- Trouble sleeping
- Vomiting
Less common minor side effects:
- Diarrhea
- Feeling faint, dizzy, or lightheaded
- Feeling of warmth or heat
- Flushing or redness of the skin, especially on the face and neck
- Lack or loss of strength
- Sweating
Major side effects:
- Blurred vision
- Confusion
- Difficult or troubled breathing
- Dizziness, faintness, or lightheadedness when getting up suddenly from a lying or sitting position
- Drowsiness
- Irregular, fast, slow, or shallow breathing
- Pale or blue lips, fingernails, or skin
- Pinpoint pupils
- Relaxed and calm feeling
- Unusual tiredness or weakness
- Sleepiness
Probuphine Cost
At this point in the article, you may be wondering what is the cost of Probuphine. It is much more expensive than buprenorphine pills, which cost around $130 to $190 a month.
The total cost of Probuphine is $4,950 for the six-month treatment implant – which breaks down to about $825 a month.
Depending on the type of insurance you have, Probuphine may or may not be covered, as many insurers will opt for you to use the less-costly buprenorphine pills.
Who can get the Probuphine Implant?
Probuphine isn’t prescribed to patients which are not already taking buprenorphine oral formulations for opioid maintenance.
The following passage is taken from an online PDF provided by Braeburn Pharmaceuticals on Probuphine prescribing info:
Probuphine is indicated for the maintenance treatment of opioid dependence in patients who have achieved and sustained prolonged clinical stability on low-to-moderate doses of a transmucosal buprenorphine-containing product (i.e., doses of no more than 8 mg per day of Subutex or Suboxone sublingual tablet equivalent or generic equivalent).
Probuphine should be used as part of a complete treatment program to include counseling and psychosocial support.”
Conclusion
The Probuphine Implant provides an additional option for patients that are using medication-assisted treatment to prevent opioid withdrawal symptoms and cravings. Some proponents of Probuphine believe the buprenorphine implant will provide many benefits in treatment.
Others raise concerns that patients will “steer off course” if they aren’t coming into the doctor’s office for regular checkups – but rather get the implant then “disappear” for six months until it’s time for the implant to be removed.
I’m a firm believer in providing a plethora of different treatment options that cater to the individual needs and preferences of individuals who want to recover from opioid dependence.
Thus, the Probuphine Implant is, in my opinion, an excellent addition to the ever-increasing list of medications used to treat opioid dependence. However, medications and counseling are only pieces of the “Recovery Puzzle.”
Until more treatment providers start learning how to treat addiction in a holistic way – with a focus on restoring individual biochemistry to balance with supplements, nutrition, exercise, and other integrative modalities – I believe the relapse rates will continue to soar high like the Eagles in the sky.
If you have any questions or comments on my Probuphine Implant Review, please post them in the comment box below.
My biggest disgust is the lack of understanding and knowledge that people have about a person that stays clean on the program does well and is a hard worker. Automatically a person assumes that if you’re a person in pain who takes suboxone to treat OUD and to manage the pain and does it successfully your an addict that can’t walk talk and chew gum …..Rather the opposite i can do most things better than most do….yet we are all throw into one category instead of unique… they ARE STILL treated as an active addict rather than seen as a hero for remaining clean in the program and abstaining from all use of the one issue they have…
i can do anything else i have no sensitivity to any other things i can drink wine normally i can do all things as a normal person and no issues ONLY the OUD ….yet i am treated as a person. Dysfunctional in all things when in reality i am a highly gifted highly functioning person.
even after a decade of clean and sober still i am judged wrongfully and treated disrespectfully . i do not have any other froms of addiction ONLY a OUD issue and sensitivity to pain meds so i have to take bup and have lived and worked paid taxes and have been a productive member of society….The stigmatism MUST stop so people will get help. Rather than than feel the must hide in shame what people should praise !!! But coming from a VERY conservative Christian family its even more difficult as they have no understanding and it harder with ZERO support and no help!!!
I’ve had the implant for 4 months, and I can tell you with no uncertainty, that it works, and it saved my life. After years of Opiate abuse, and years of trying anything under the sun to get clean and break my lifestyle and rituals related to Op’s I finally am free of that dependence. I’m grateful to have insurance that covered it, and very happy to be free of constant craving, and scheming, and all the other crap that goes along with addiction. I literally shook all of that the very day it was implanted. I couldn’t be happier with this option. Good luck to all fighting this menace.
I just successfully completed Six months with the probuphine implant. I only had two rods instead of the 4 rods as I was on a low dose of zubsolv at the time I decided to try the implant. When I say successful I mean after my six months was up I left the implants in my arm and did not replace them. We wanted to see if it would continue to release small amounts of medication after the six months was over. Three weeks after my 6 months was up blood work was done and my doctor called and said there is no bupenephrine in my blood work. This was the greatest day of my life. I am no longer a slave to opiates. I never had any withdrawal. I had a few night sweats but that was it. I was in shock. I thought I would be on medication for the rest of my life.
I see opiate addicts being sent to prison. This is not working. Prison usually makes a master criminal out of what would have been a person with an addiction.
My suggestion is that we develop a program for addicts who have been arrested. This program will require the addict to volenteer for the Probuphine implant. It will require the addict attend counciling and AA/NA (all of the usual for a drug related offense). But the difference being the implant.
Cost and insurance is one of the biggest concerns. My thought is that we use a community service program to offset the state’s cost for the implant. This way the offender had to stop using opiates immidiately. Once the addict is clean and has attended a 30 (I would prefure 90) day inpatient rehab program, then we would have them do a community service while they continue to attend an outpatient program.
This idea is quite new and I have not had much time to develop it but I feel that it is promising.
Please write back with any ideas of your own. I would like to organize a group effort. Although I am not quite sure where to begin. so here i am now.
Darrick Steele
Great input Darrick. Sending drug addicts to jail is a horrible system. I agree that we should stop sending people to jail and prison for personal drug use, and we should use all the money we would save from incarcerating all these people instead on sending them to free treatment programs, like the system you mentioned.
Thanks for sharing your ideas and I wish you the best. Take care my friend.
How do you taper down off of this?
thanks for your help. I wish there were more people who could help these people trapped in a vicious circle, no insurance, not covered by insurance, no beds available. States get help like $16m funding and still cant find help. This would be great if we could afford it!!! I appreciate your report on how to detox naturally and all but am very saddened by the fact that you are charging people for your help. there are already sooooo many people out there taking advantage of people, I would hope this would be the last place to do the same. sad.
There are over 160 free articles on this website, I answer comments for free, and I answer emails for free, and I created two awesome online courses that are free. I spent the last 3 years building up this website so anyone could read all the free information and use it to get off opiates. It also costs me over $1,100 every single month to run this website hosting with all the software, so it’s not free for me. I’m a bit confused as to why you are saddened.
addiction isn’t free. detox isn’t free. any form of buprenorphine sure as fuck is not free. counseling isn’t free. really even AA meetings aren’t entirely free you end up paying something somehow even if it’s a donation or buying literature. this dude has to make some coin. leave him alone.
if you want to know how to get off opioids naturally google kratom. i wouldn’t reccomend it. its really simple. taper down to at least .5 (half a mg) of buprenorphine, stay on that dose daily for at least a month. attempt to skip days in between doses if you can. start eating right and exercising and once you have established healthy habits and increased natural endorphin production then just stop taking it. goto your primary care doctor and get some clonidine, Vistaril, and if shit gets real bad request some clonazepam or diazepam but really limit yourself with benzos. the withdrawal will be tolerable to nonexistent. been there. done it. conquered it. no inpatient required. your mileage may vary.
Thanks for backing me up Timothy. And all the advice you brought up is great. I’m going to post a link to my free articles I did on the remedies you mentioned for readers to check out…for free haha.
How To Use Kratom For Opiate Withdrawal>>
How To Use Suboxone For Opiate Withdrawal>>
How To Use Clonidine For Opiate Withdrawal>>
How To Use Klonopin For Opiate Withdrawal>>
How To Use Valium For Opiate Withdrawal>>
How Exercise Helps People Recover From Addiction>>
How long does it take for the probuphine to work after insertion. Also does it put out as much as 8mgs a day like I’ve been taking for over a year? It seems like alot less medication over a period of 6 months and will I have withdrawal symptoms if I’m taking 8mgs of suboxone a day? Thank you for any answers you can help me with as soon as possible because I plan on doing this very soon and want another opinion
Hi Greg,
Probuphine works very fast after insertion. And as for the exact details on how it would work for your situation and if you’d have withdrawal symptoms, I’d recommend asking your Suboxone-prescribing physician these questions so you make sure you know exactly how it will affect you. I’m glad you found value in this article and I’m wishing you the best on your journey. 🙂
Hey. I was on suboxone for over 5 years as much as 16 mg as little as 4 mg. I got the implant in May and was on 8mgs. The procedure was super easy. I hade taken my last dose about 24 hours before the implant. It was kind of weird because for about 30 minutes after I started getting those half sneezes you generally get when you begin to detox, only lasted a few minutes then I felt fine. It was a little strange getting used to not physically taking it but other than that I can’t complain. I’m not constipated anymore (which I’m still trying to get used to). Also, my most comfortable dose is about 12 mgs. but if you are comfortable on 8 it honestly works. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to get off the medication also. Not sure how it will feel when it stops working but it gets you out of the obsession or habit of having to take it at certain times, etc.
BTW I am not being paid by the company and have no reason to give a review that for or against the implant. If you have any questions post them, I’ll be glad to help.
It starts to work immediately.I had the implant procedure in May of 2017 and felt ot working as soon as I was done with the procedure. The doctor told me that it is coated with the ingredient and there would be no withdrawl. It had worked great.
This is what im going through. I was on 8 and now I have the implant and i am feeling a little bit of withdrawal everyday. I am cooking a turkey for thanksgiving yawning and watery eyes like. Its not terrible but its uncomfortable.
They just did a news segment on the implants here in Milwaukee. Im sure there will be alot of people talking about the implants here. I’m sure there are many of us out here that are watching and searching for data and blogs on people’s experiences with these implants. Just wanted who ever to know we’re looking for information other than from the manufacturer.
Sounds good Wendy. That’s why there is this comments and questions section at the end of the article…so people can provide their experiences. Overtime I know this comment section will grow like many of the other articles on my blog, and eventually there should be plenty of Probuphine Implant Reviews by people that have the buprenorphine implant. Thanks so much for your comment and I wish you the best.
Got the implant last week, no withdrawls but wish I would of stuck with the suboxone I can tell a significant difference.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us Jean.
What is the difference you’re feeling? I’m on 8mg of Subutex (not Suboxone) daily and am scheduled to get the implant in 4-5 months?
Thank you.
I am scheduled to have this procedure but I can not find any reviews anywhere. This is making me reconsider the procedure due to lack of patients taking advantage of the Probuphine. Any comments would be appreciated.
Hello. I feel the exact same way. I was supposed to get the implant last week but there was a problem with scheduling so I’m getting it next month. I have searched the Internet thoroughly and I can’t find 1 blog, FB group or even a YouTube video from someone who has gotten the implant and can give a non biased opinion or review of their experience.
I noticed that someone posted above you that she got the implant in 2015 but it wasn’t approved until last year and is only 6 months.
Anyway, I’m going ahead with the implant but I’d love to have others with insight.
I think the Probuphine website has one persons story but that’s through the manufacturer.
I got it a week ago and it is a game changer. No ups or downs and no forgetting to take the meds everyday. I recommend it to you. And the procedure is painless
I agree. Having to schedule out when to take it, running out, doctors appointments, hoping there’s no problem getting it filled from an over zealous pharmacist. It’s liberating… Lol. And if you are on 8mg u will be fine. The only thing you may be concerned about would be the psychological effects of not physically dosing… Just something to keep in mind.
Oh, I wasn’t expecting the procedure to be bad but it was literally nothing. A shot to numb your arm then you don’t feel any pain and it took maybe 20 minutes total.
Is there anyone talking about this? Anyone with personal experience?
I have this implant. I got it inserted in December 2015 it’s still in place and working. I dont have any concerns but I would love to hear what others have to say.
I think maybe you are mistaken about either what implant you have or the time that you got it. The Probuphine implant wasn’t approved by the FDA until June or July of 2016. The only way to get it before that would have been through a clinical trial. I have done clinical trials before and I would think that they would have insisted that you have removed it by now (at least to be in compliance with the study).
Is it possible that you got another implant for something totally different?
Why haven’t you asked the doctor who inserted it about it? I mean I know it is meant to be removed after 6 months and there may be a reason (other than medication running out) that you shouldn’t keep the same implant in for more than the specified time.
If you do somehow have the Probuphine Implant my opinion would be to go to the Probuphine website or the Braeburn website and call the number to speak to a representative.
Just my opinion.
I got this implant inserted in December 2015…. I still have it. I have a few questions and would love to talk to anyone who also has this. I can’t seem to find any discussions with ppl who have this.
When the six month period runs out and the patient disides to discontinue use, is there any withdrawal?
My guess would be that it would be the same withdrawal as if you stopped taking 8mg of subutex
I actually heard if you just leave it in longer the implants taper off on their own… so no sudden stopping… so no withdrawal. I would leave them in for 12 months just to be safe if you ever think about getting off. I also heard they last more like 9 months… that’s from a doctor that implants them… that’s why I said leave it in for 12 if you want to get off.
I am getting the Probuphine implant next month through their patients assistance program. I can’t seem to find any online reviews from people who have had the implant.
They will start showing up soon. It’s still pretty new.