In treating opioid use disorder, especially relating to heroin, the trick is not necessarily finding the treatment that works best pharmacologically but the one to which patients will adhere.

That’s the main rationale behind long-term subcutaneous buprenorphine, which can be administered weekly or monthly by a doctor rather than relying on patients to take a daily oral dose.

The first such product to the market in Australia, Buvidal, was approved by the TGA in November last year.

And, last month, the results of a phase III trial into the product’s tolerability were published in Addiction. The trial was funded by Braeburn, which holds the US licence for Buvidal.