Buprenorphine for the Treatment of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2010-01-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Neonatal abstinence syndrome is a disease that affects children who were exposed to opioid
drugs prior to birth. Commonly used treatments at present include morphine or tincture of
opium. Buprenorphine is a drug used in adults to treat narcotic dependence, but has not been
used for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. This trial is designed to see if the use of sublingual
(under the tongue) buprenorphine is able to be used safely and easily in newborns with the
neonatal abstinence syndrome. Secondary goals will be to see if treatment with buprenorphine
is associated shorter stays in the hospital and fewer days of treatment than the use of
standard therapy. Another secondary goal will be to understand buprenorphine concentration in
the blood of babies treated with the drug (this is called "pharmacokinetics").