Development of innovative approaches for analysis of buprenorphine/naloxone combination used in opiate addiction treatment

The prevalence of long-term as well as repeated use of opioids (OUD) has reached unprecedented levels over the past decade, increasing overdose mortality, and thus resulting socioeconomic burden. A combination of buprenorphine and naloxone sublingual tablet is an effective treatment for opiate addiction. Sublingual tablet containing the antagonist naloxone at a ratio of 1 to 4 of buprenorphine, an m-opioid receptor partial agonist, provides effective withdrawal and maintenance therapy for opioid-dependent patients, while its pharmacodynamic properties are well tolerated. Although, extraction methods and analytical techniques for buprenorphine/naloxone are still very limited, it offers benefits such as reduced potential for abuse. The aim of this study was to develop his HPLC-based method with high sensitivity, speed and low detection limit for buprenorphine/naloxone.