Office-based buprenorphine treatment for opioid-dependent patients.

Opioid dependence is epidemic in the United States, with increasing numbers addicted to heroin and burgeoning abuse of prescription opioid analgesics. Buprenorphine, the most recent addition to the pharmacotherapies available to treat opioid dependence, is novel among the opioid pharmacotherapies because of its partial agonist properties. It has been placed on Schedule III and is available by prescription from a physician's office-based practice. This review briefly summarizes the research supporting buprenorphine as a treatment for opioid dependence--including its clinical pharmacology, formulation with naloxone to prevent diversion, clinical use in treatment of opioid dependence, and issues regarding its use in special populations.