Are patients' pejorative representations of buprenorphine associated with their level of addiction and of misuse?

Background: In France, buprenorphine is at once the most widely prescribed and the most commonly misused opioid maintenance treatment (OMT). Unlike other medicines, it is seldom prescribed as a generic drug. Several studies have underlined the influence of the patient's representations when choosing brand-name rather than generic forms.

Preference for brand-name buprenorphine is related to severity of addiction among outpatients in opioid maintenance treatment.

As a form of opioid maintenance treatment, high-dose buprenorphine is increasingly being used in the United States. On the French market since 1996, it is the most commonly prescribed and frequently employed opioid maintenance treatment. For unknown reasons, the brand-name form is used far more often than the generic form (76-24%).

[Choosing a location to practice a medical specialty: survey among 3 generations of young graduates of the University of Franche-Comté].

Problems with the medical demographics related to the distribution of doctors in France, of which the Franche-Comté particularly suffers namely with regard to specialists, led the Regional Directorate for Health and Social Affairs and the Franche-Comtd University of Medicine and Pharmacy to ask the Regional Health Observatory to carry out a study. The study's objective was to quantify the number of specialists trained in Franche-Comté who are leaving the region to practice elsewhere and analyse the reasons for it. The results show that there has not been a massive drain of young practitioners, given that 59% of specialists trained in the region are still working there 2 years having finished their education and training programme.

Twenty-four hour efficacy of two dose levels of a once daily sustained-release diltiazem formulation in stable angina: a placebo-controlled trial. The Dildurang Study Group.

1. This placebo-controlled study assessed once daily sustained-release (SR) diltiazem, 200 and 300 mg, in 182 stable angina patients with positive exercise test. 2.

[Non invasive evaluation of cardiovascular effects of nebivolol in patients with cardiac insufficiency].

The results of several studies, mostly without controls, have suggested that betablockers, administered at progressively increasing doses, may be beneficial in cardiac failure. Based on this hypothesis, betablockers with a peripheral vasodilator effect, such as Nebivolol, could be particularly valuable in this indication. A preliminary study of its tolerance, haemodynamic and neurohormonal effects was carried out with a noninvasive methodology in 12 patients with cardiac failure in sinus rhythm, 8 men and 4 women (average age 53 +/- 12 years), all of whom had Class III or IV symptoms according to the NYHA Classification.