Work in Progress Seminar: Comparing Buprenorphine/Baloxone and Methadone for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder

Bohdan Nosyk, PhD, MA
Scientist, Advancing Health
Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
Adjunct Professor, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Sciences, Simon Fraser University

November 13, 2024
12:00–1:00 PM
Room 1500 at St. Paul’s Hospital, or Online

Previous comparative effectiveness studies between buprenorphine and methadone provided limited evidence on differences in treatment effects across key subgroups and drew from populations who use primarily heroin or prescription opioids, though fentanyl use is increasing across North America. A population-based retrospective cohort study was conducted which linked health administrative databases in British Columbia, Canada including treatment recipients between 01/01/2010-03/17/2020 to assess the risk of treatment discontinuation and mortality among individuals receiving buprenorphine/naloxone versus methadone for opioid use disorder treatment. Incident users of buprenorphine/naloxone had a higher risk of treatment discontinuation compared to methadone, with a limited change in estimates at optimal doses. The study showed that methadone was associated with lower risk of treatment discontinuation compared to buprenorphine/naloxone.

This Work in Progress Seminar will discuss the population-level study which found that methadone is associated with a lower risk of treatment discontinuation compared to buprenorphine/naloxone for opioid use disorder treatment, while risk of mortality during treatment was similar for both medications, though the estimate was more variable.