The Difference Between Sublocade and Suboxone

Recent data estimates that two million people have an opioid use disorder. This means you or someone you care about may be impacted by opioid addiction. While this data is grim, the good news is that numbers of opioid-related deaths are on the decline.

We can attribute this to the success of medication-assisted treatments (MAT), mental health resources, and more funding towards rehabilitation more people are successful in their treatment for addiction.

In this article, we’ll help you understand two of these treatments, Sublocade and Suboxone. Both of these medications have been approved by the FDA and used with great success since the early 2000s.

They are similar to one another but have some key distinctions. Depending on your unique circumstances one may be better for you than the other. We aim to equip you with the knowledge to ask your doctor about the option you think may be best.

Let’s go!

What’s Medication-Assisted Treatment?

Before we get into the specifics of Sublocade and Suboxone, let’s have a closer look at MAT. Medication-assisted treatments are the gold standard for treating opioid addiction.

Believe it or not, opioid addiction has been an issue in America since the Civil War. The faces of addiction and methods of application have changed through the years, but the problem has been persistent. Thus the development of a treatment for addiction has been going on for decades.

A wide variety of treatments were tried as the public health emergency that is the opioid addiction ebbed and flowed. Then, a big breakthrough happened in the 60s. A group of scientists had the idea to use Methadone as an addiction treatment.

Because the results were so promising, more research went into MAT and additional medications were developed. Subutex, Sublocade, and Suboxone are all the results of that research and development. Various combinations of MAT and other treatments have helped millions of people get clean and stay clean.

So know that you are not alone and treatment for addiction is more effective now than ever before. Medical detox is the best place to start.

Sublocade and Suboxone

These medications are both used to treat opioid addiction. And they both have to be prescribed by your physician. When used precisely as prescribed they work well to help you get sober and keep you sober.

The active ingredient for both is Buprenorphine. It helps reduce cravings and withdrawal symptoms so that you can fully participate in your addiction treatment. But other than that, the two are quite different.

What is Suboxone?

Suboxone is the brand name for buprenorphine-naloxone. Used to help people with opioid addiction detox.

Buprenorphine-naloxone comes as a sublingual film, which is like a small piece of paper that goes underneath your tongue and dissolves. There is a generic version offered. Sublingual tablets from Zubsolv.

Buprenorphine is itself a partial opioid antagonist. Meaning it only partially stimulates the user’s opioid receptors. The partial activation helps abate withdrawal symptoms but doesn’t stimulate them enough to get you “high.”

The second active ingredient in Suboxone is Naloxone, which is known as an opioid antagonist. It can remove and replace opioids in your receptors without activating them, guarding you against an overdose of buprenorphine.

These ingredients combined work to reduce your desire for opiates and minimize the potential for abuse. The film is ingested daily or weekly depending on your treatment plan.

What Is Sublocade?

Sublocade is a new medication for MAT. The brand offers Buprenorphine in an extended-release monthly injection. There is, unfortunately, no generic option of Sublocadae currently available in the U.S.

Buprenorphine is a partially synthetic opiate that is made from the poppy plant that works similarly to Suboxone. It activates the opioid receptors of a user up to a controlled limit, so there isn’t the “high” feeling.  Without the euphoria, you are less likely to have opiate cravings.

This treatment is administered in a monthly shot and doesn’t contain naloxone, so there is potential for misuse.  Legally, it can only be administered by qualified medical staff. This restriction helps to eliminate the risks associated with self-administration.

The monthly injection distributes Buprenorphine within the body in a slow and controlled way. This helps to prevent withdrawal while reducing cravings.

Which Treatment Is Better

It’s nearly impossible to label one addiction treatment as better than another. The best addiction treatment for you may not be the best for me. That said, here are some things to consider when determining which medication is best for you.

What are the risks of abuse or addiction? 

Buprenorphine is an opiate so it could technically lead to addiction if any of the medications were abused. It’s important that you be honest with yourself and where you are in your process. Since Sublocade doesn’t have Naloxone you could technically get it and still use another pain killer recreationally.

Are there generics available?

Name brands can carry a heavy price tag and not all treatments have generics available. In this instance, Sublocade does not have a generic while Suboxone does. If cost is a factor for you this is something to consider.

What are the withdrawal effects and overdose risks?

Both medications reduce the symptoms of opiate withdrawal while you are in treatment. Once you stop treatment there is a chance you may experience minor withdrawal symptoms. It is important to use the medications as prescribed and to work closely with your attending physician.

The good news is that both these medications actually help to diminish the risk of post-treatment overdose.

Takeaways On Sublocade and Suboxone

If you or a loved one are suffering from an opioid addiction it is important that you seek treatment for addiction as soon as possible. Sublocade and Suboxone are just two of the various medication-assisted treatment options out there for opioid addiction treatment.

Talk to your doctor and assemble your team of loved ones. The road to recovery is just that, a road. Sometimes long and windy, sometimes you double back, but the important thing is, you keep going.