Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and others nationally are hoping to determine whether the anti-addiction medication Suboxone -- a mix of buprenorphine and naloxone -- can be used to effectively treat people addicted to prescription opiate-based drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin.

The Prescription Opiate Addiction Treatment Study (POATS) is the first large-scale research project of its kind. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), POATS research is being conducted at 11 sites nationally, including UCSF.

"The abuse of prescription opiates has become a very serious problem in our society, but until now, there have been no large-scale studies to evaluate how to treat those addictions," said Stephen Dominy, M.D., director of the Division of Substance Abuse and Addiction Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center. "This study hopes to assess whether current opiate dependence therapies are effective, as well as the role of counseling in treatment outcomes."

Researchers noted that people addicted to prescription opiates tend to be younger, more affluent, and have fewer related dependency issues than those addicted to illicit opiates like heroin. "Opiate addiction is well studied in heroin dependence, but very little is known about what treatments are effective with this group of people," said Yong Song, Ph.D., co-principal investigator for the UCSF study. "We think this is a different demographic, but it's not well studied. This trial will confirm whether they really do look different."

A total of 648 people will be enrolled in the study. Participants will be treated with Suboxone for a month, then detoxed; sobriety will be measured after two months. Half the group will receive intensive individualized drug counseling, while the other half will receive brief counseling from doctors.