Jason Ford

Trial aims to halt deviation from drug rehabilitation

News

British technology is to be at the forefront of a European project to help people break their addiction to opiates such as heroin.

The €1m project aims to develop improved patient management tools to assist with the delivery of more cost-effective and convenient opioid substitution treatment (OST) programmes.

Opioid substitution treatment involves the prescription of a regular dose of an opioid replacement such as buprenorphine or methadone. The oral medications are longer lasting and less euphoric than opioid drugs and suppress a patient’s craving for heroin.

Norwich-based Intelligent Fingerprinting is taking part in the two-year Eurostars programme, which involves Addoz, a Finnish healthcare technology company, and the University of Eastern Finland.

Dr Paul Yates, business development manager at Intelligent Fingerprinting explained that OST patients have been known to sell their methadone for heroin and it is for this reason that they must attend a clinic, pharmacist or GP to be observed taking their medication.

OST patients must also be observed when providing regular urine samples, which are tested in an expensive and time-consuming process, to verify adherence to a drug rehabilitation programme.

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