Researchers from the Atlanta-based Emory Rollins School of Public Health found that about a quarter of pharmacies in rural Kentucky denied buprenorphine to patients with prescriptions, despite multiple federal and state efforts to increase access to the drug, which treats opioid use disorder. The researchers also noted that buprenorphine lessens the risk of overdose, as well as HIV and hepatitis C infection.
They wrote that the reasons for these denials may stem from a lack of physician-pharmacist trust, stigma against patients with opioid use disorder and drug manufacturers’ contradictory method of monitoring opioid sales, in which they group together both opioids and the drugs that treat opioid use disorder.
More articles on opioids:
49 states file $2.15 trillion opioid epidemic lawsuit against Purdue Pharma
Pregnant women face obstacles in obtaining opioid use disorder treatment, study finds
80% of Americans can’t accurately identify opioids, study finds
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