Columbia University’s Part in Spreading the Word About Buprenorphine
We don’t really think about the people who started it all, but considering that it’s only been a few years since the FDA approved bupe for substance abuse treatment, there’s been a viral word-of-mouth buzz about the drug among addicts, if not medical professionals.
Columbia University is one of those that played a critical role in helping spread the word about buprenorphine, especially in the early days when so little was known about it. As soon as the FDA approved the drug for opiate addiction treatment, Columbia made it available for those addicted to opiate prescription drugs and street drugs—everything from TyCos to heroin.
Three different organizations—the American Psychiatric Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and the American Academy of Family Practice—offer doctors the eight-hour training session that they must go through before registering with the Secretary of Health and Human Services in order to be able to prescribe bupe (Subutex and Suboxone). Each doctor has a limit of 30 patients to whom they can prescribe the drug at any one time. Columbia put the word out in New York.
But Columbia’s program went even further than that: they helped 150 New Yorkers get a prescription for bupe. They also kept up with these patients to see how they did on the treatment. After six months, there was only a 14 percent relapse rate. Compare that to the 80 percent relapse rate that most inpatient treatment programs have.
The doctors involved in Columbia’s program traveled extensively to substance abuse programs and conferences to educate the people who can do something about it. They even extend offers for doctors and residents to come and observe how simple the process of accreditation and treatment is. Dr. McDowell, the head of the program says: “The two things that patients on the medicine say the most are ‘Thank you, I feel like I got my life back,’ and, ‘How come I didn’t know about this before?’ We’re working to get the word out.”
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