• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Addiction Treatment Forum

Addiction Treatment Forum

Addiction Treatment Forum reports on substance use news of interest to opioid treatment programs and patients in medication-assisted treatment.

  • Newsletter
  • Addiction Resources
  • Methadone
  • Buprenorphine
  • Patient Brochures
  • Events

FDA: Keep Patients on Methadone or Buprenorphine, Even if They Test Positive for Benzodiazepines

December 13, 2017 by Alison Knopf

BenzodiazepinesThe practice of ending treatment if patients test positive for benzodiazepines was discouraged in no uncertain terms by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last fall. Then, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, issued a powerful twofold statement: Combining benzodiazepines and other central nervous system depressants is known to be dangerous, but kicking people out of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is worse.

Dr. Gottlieb added that MAT “should not necessarily be denied to patients taking these other medications,” because the “dangers associated with failing to treat an opioid use disorder can outweigh the risks of co-prescribing MAT and benzodiazepines.” MAT, he said, “is one of the major pillars of the federal response to the opioid epidemic in this country.”

A Strong Supporter of MAT

Dr. Gottlieb has emerged as one of the strongest supporters of MAT in this administration. He said that “patients receiving MAT cut their risk of death from all causes in half, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,” and that “many patients with opioid use disorder might abuse other substances, or have a coexisting chronic condition, such as a mental health disorder.”

On September 20, the FDA issued a Drug Safety Communication indicating that co-administering methadone or buprenorphine with benzodiazepines “can pose serious risks, including difficulty breathing, coma, and death.” However, while the advisory asks providers to be aware of these risks, it says that it’s more important, in the case of opioid use disorders, to keep patients on their methadone or buprenorphine, than it is to stop treatment, when patients would not be under any care, and could end up overdosing.

Labeling Changes are Coming

Changes will be made in labels of methadone and buprenorphine to decrease the practice of combining these medications with CNS depressants, while acknowledging that these medications might be co-administered with benzodiazepines.

“The new labeling recommends that health care providers develop a treatment plan that closely monitors any concomitant use of these drugs, and carefully taper the use of benzodiazepines, while considering other treatment options to address mental health conditions that the benzodiazepines might have been initially prescribed to address,” said Dr. Gottlieb.

For the FDA’s Drug Safety Communication, go to https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm575307.htm

Filed Under: 2017, 28-6, Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), Newsletter

Primary Sidebar

Upcoming Events

CADCA 2023 Leadership Forum and SAMHSA’s Prevention Day
January 30-February 3, 2023

Washington, D.C.
http://cadca.org/forum2023

2023 Rx and Illicit Drug Summit
April 10-13, 2023

Atlanta, Georgia
https://www.rx-summit.com/

2023 ASAM conference
April 13-16, 2023

Washington, D.C.
https://annualconference.asam.org/

 

View More Upcoming Events…

ATForum.com

  • Newsletter
  • Addiction Resources
  • Rx Methadone & Safety
  • Patient Education Brochures
  • Events
  • Related Websites

Addiction Resources

  • Addiction and Recovery
  • Addiction Treatment Forum
  • Books and Booklets of Interest
  • Drug Screening and Testing
  • Evidence-Based Addiction Medicine
  • Federal Government
  • Health Care Reform
  • Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS
  • Medication-Assisted Treatment
  • Mental Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Online Continuing Education Free Training Modules

Footer

Addiction Treatment Forum is produced by an independent medical communications agency. Commercial advertising is not accepted.
Published by Clinco Communications, Inc.
About Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Follow Us

Sign up for News!

© 2023 Addiction Treatment Forum · All Rights Reserved