Bridge Therapeutics

04/10/2025

Uncontrolled, High-Impact Pain => Opioid Abuse & Overdose

Patients with moderate to severe pain and pain that interferes with daily activities were linked to an increased risk for opioid use disorder and overdose among older adults prescribed opioids.

A study in PAIN of 2006-2021 Medicare claims covered 3,104 patients.

03/07/2025

The National Institute for Drug Abuse has released a user-friendly graphic detailing medications utilized in addiction treatment and prevention of abuse.

The graphic, accessible despite incorporating technical terminology, showcases the medications essential for addressing addiction concerns effectively.

For more information and to view the graphic, visit: https://tinyurl.com/2skd7z26

01/31/2025

Buprenorphine shown suprior to Opioids for Acute Pain

Buprenorphine has shown superior efficacy in managing postoperative pain compared to traditional full agonist opioids, as indicated by a review of 58 randomized controlled trials spanning from 1977 to 2023. Involving 2587 adults, the study revealed that buprenorphine exhibited significantly lower mean pain intensity scores in comparison to all opioids, including full agonist opioids. These findings, coupled with its lower abuse potential, underscore the effectiveness of buprenorphine in addressing acute pain scenarios.

For more information, refer to the detailed analysis: [Link to the study]

Buprenorphine was more efficacious and safer for the treatment of postsurgical pain in adults compared with other opioids.

01/15/2025

National Institute of Drug Addiction director Dr. Nora Volkow offers some of the latest statistics around opioid crisis.

1) Fatal overdoses dropped ~17% in the 12mo's to July 2024
2) Overdoses continued to rise among Black and native Americans
3) Naloxone reversed 92,000 overdoses in the 12mo's to March 2023
4) In 2023, only 14.6% of people with a Substance Use Disorder received treatment, and only 18% of people with an opioid use disorder (OUD) received medication.
5) OUD medications reduced fatal overdoses in prisons and jails by 32%
6) Access to buprenorphine reduced recidivism by 32%
7) New technologies, including neuromodulation, may help further

12/06/2024

Buprenorphine could make Opioid Deaths fall a lot more

In 2023, the U.S. finally saw a 1-year decline in opioid overdose deaths (from 84,000 to 81,000).

Yet Dr. Sarah Wakeman believes that buprenorphine could reduce opioid overdose deaths much further once certain issues are overcome:

1. General discomfort treating addiction

2. Treat substance use disorder as a chronic condition

3. Alert physicians about cutting of red-tape for prescribing "bupe"

4. Confront inequity in substance use disorder treatment among minorities

For the complete article see:

It's time for the medical field to reduce OUD stigma and embrace this essential medication

11/22/2024

Most Youths with Chronic Pain have Anxiety or Depression

A total of 79 studies (N=12,614 individuals with chronic pain; 10,342 control individuals) were included in analyses averaging 13.7 years of which 74% girls/women. Compared with control individuals, youth with chronic pain had greater symptoms of anxiety (95%) and depression (95%).
For further details see:

Youth with vs without chronic pain had higher rates of anxiety and depression, which suggests a need for improved mental health treatment in this group.

09/04/2024

Buprenorphine May Be Safe, Effective for Acute Pain in Older Adults

In a meta-analysis of 22 studies of 2,610 older adults (60 years+) buprenorphine was found as effective as conventional analgesia and, in some cases, reduced the need for breakthrough analgesia, reduce opioid consumption, and improve patient satisfaction.

Studies were published between 1987 and 2023 across 10 countries and featured a variety of delivery mechanisms.

For a more detailed summary see:

Buprenorphine may be as effective as conventional analgesia in older adults with acute pain, with reduced opioid consumption and breakthrough analgesia.

08/13/2024

The FDA has approved Zurnai, the first nalmefene auto-injector for the emergency opioid overdose.

Like naloxone (Narcan), nalmefene restores breathing to those suffering respiratory depression from opioids. It's key distinction is its longer duration of 1-4 hours versus 60-90 minutes for naloxone, reducing the monitoring frequency so that the effects of opioid toxicity do not return to wreak havoc.

For more on the FDA's announcement see: https://tinyurl.com/mr47w2hj

For a pharmacological comparison of nalmefene to naloxone see: https://tinyurl.com/mr448bbx

Opioid use disorder is a well-established and growing problem in the United States. It is responsible for both psychosocial and physical damage to the affected individuals with a significant mortality rate. Given both the medical and non-medical consequences of this epidemic, it is important to unde...

07/10/2024

Optimizing Palliative Care: Transitioning from Full Agonist Opioids to Low-Dose Buprenorphine

A small study (n=19) showed that nearly 90% of patients rotated to tiny doses of buprenorphine had the same pain relief as usual (full agonist) opioids, though at 1/60th the opioid milligram equivalent (OME).

Patients switched from opioids to buprenorphine achieved equianalgesia with 6 mg buprenorphine or less daily regardless of baseline OME requirements.

04/26/2024

Study - Buprenorphine less available in Minority Communities.

In recent years the Opioid Crisis has fallen disproportionately among Black and Native American or Alaska Native populations. Yet this study of 2018 data of prescribers and prescriptions in both urban and rural areas shows that treatment with buprenorphine is also less available.

"[A]chieving more equitable buprenorphine access requires not only increasing the number of buprenorphine-prescribing clinicians serving diverse communities… it also requires efforts to promote greater buprenorphine prescribing among already prescribing clinicians."

Investigators examined whether the geographic availability of buprenorphine varies in areas with greater concentrations of racial and ethnic minority groups.

03/22/2024

Big Improvement in Treating Addiction in Behind Bars

"Just a few years ago, only a small percentage of jails were providing MOUD to the general population with OUD. Today, about 30% of jails provide buprenorphine and about 20% of jails provide methadone, two of the three FDA-approved MOUDs."

See the full story at:

11/02/2023

"Buprenorphine should be an option for those forgotten patients who still live in pain. By overcoming the stigma of buprenorphine, doctors could treat patients with dignity by prescribing a safer and more effective medication". - Stefan Franzen, PhD

By Dr. Stefan Franzen For years I had a negative impression of buprenorphine as a pain medication, both from personal descriptions I had heard by pain patients and from the scientific and medical literature. I have since learned that buprenorphine can be effective pain reliever . At a high dose,