Rapid Identification of Buprenorphine in Patient Saliva.

Buprenorphine is becoming the medication of choice to help patients withdraw from opioid addiction. However, treatment is compromised by the inability of physicians to assess patient usage during scheduled examinations. Here we describe the development of a point-of-care (POC) analyzer that can rapidly measure both illicit and treatment drugs in patient saliva, ideally in the physician's office, and with a degree of accuracy similar to chromatography.