@article{ref1,
title="Buprenorphine for opioid use disorder: the role of public funding in its development",
journal="Drug and alcohol dependence",
year="2020",
author="Kesselheim, Aaron S. and Barenie, Rachel E.",
volume="219",
number="",
pages="e108491-e108491",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Buprenorphine is a highly effective, office-based treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), but affordable access to it remains challenging despite initial  government investment in its development. We aimed to estimate the public sector's  contribution to the development of buprenorphine for OUD. <br><br>METHODS: We researched  buprenorphine's timeline of development as an OUD treatment to identify key terms  (e.g., authors of pivotal studies, labeled indication). We then conducted a PubMed  search for each key term. We extracted article identification numbers and linked  them to federal funding through the NIH RePORTER. We reviewed the title,  investigator, and organization of each award distributed up to and including 2002  and classified awards as &quot;highly related,&quot; &quot;possibly related,&quot; or neither. Amounts  of related awards were converted to 2019 US dollars. <br><br>RESULTS: Over the course of  nearly four decades, the active ingredient in buprenorphine was synthesized by a  pharmaceutical manufacturer, but it was developed for OUD primarily by investigators  in government and academic centers, including a formal government-industry  partnership for commercialization. We identified 29 key terms related to its  development as an OUD treatment that linked to 7060 NIH awards. Among these awards,  40 were &quot;highly related&quot; ($39.9 million) and 20 were &quot;possibly related&quot; ($22.4  million). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: An estimated $62.3 million in NIH awards to institutions and  investigators supported the development of buprenorphine as a treatment for OUD. Despite this investment by the public sector, buprenorphine remains expensive, which  limits access to this important treatment.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0376-8716",
doi="10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108491",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108491"
}