‘Game-changing’ new drug helping heroin addicts
A ‘GAME-CHANGING’ new drug is being rolled out in Cardiff to help heroin addicts get their lives back on track.
One consultant involved in the rollout of Buvidal said the drug was “better than sliced bread”, while a former addict described it as a “life-saver”.
Buvidal works as a once-a-month injection of buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid dependence. Once injected, the drug releases slowly over a number of weeks.
Patients only have to receive Buvidal once a month, in contrast to methadone which is administered every day. The drug also blocks heroin from having any effect on the user.
Vincent Condron, 43, has used Buvidal for 10 months and said the drug has given him his freedom and life back. He said: “It’s an absolute lifesaver.”
Mr Condron started using heroin in Ireland, where he grew up, at age 14. While working in the past as a lorry driver and pub landlord, he said “drugs always got in the way of my career”. He also suffers from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
One key difference between taking Buvidal once a month and methadone every day is the time in between doses, which allows patients space to move on from their addictions.
Mr Condron said: “Methadone is just legalised heroin. The addiction is still running your life. A lot of addiction is just people, places and things - the environment you’re in. Buvidal gives you the chance to get out of that environment, into a totally different headspace.
“You have less anxiety around going out, and you’re not worried about bumping into people who are actively using. You can’t use heroin on top of it. Even if you wanted to get high, you can’t. It’s just amazing.”
Dr Jan Melichar, lead consultant for opioid addiction at the Community Addiction Unit in Cardiff, has been instrumental in the drug’s rollout. He said: “Buvidal is the best drug I have seen in 25 years. It’s a bridge to recovery.”
Dr Melichar said: “If I gave you a month’s worth of heroin or methadone, you would die. But Buvidal is nice and slow. It just comes out smoothly. You feel fabulous.
“You’re not waking up each morning thinking how to get to the dealer or to the pharmacy. It has been a revelation to people.
“You see people who have spent the last three years in prison, or in and out of hospital, and now they have tidied themselves up, back in contact with families, trying to move on with their lives, back to work. They see it as something that really works.”
Mr Condron said: “Now I have four weeks in between injections, so I can get to counselling or doctor’s appointments. Before, when I was on drugs, I couldn’t do that. Drugs would ruin every minute of my day.”
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence first approved the drug in February 2019, before the Welsh Government approved it in September 2019. Cardiff and Vale University Health Board then began with a small pilot before rolling it out widely.
Fiona Kinghorn, executive director of public health at Cardiff and Vale
University Health Board, said: “Buvidal has had the most dramatic effect on Cardiff’s heroin-using community who have experience of homelessness.
“Services have found this group traditionally the most challenging community to work with, as they struggle to maintain positive change to many aspects of their lives, including their health and their housing.”
The health board introduced Buvidal as a pilot in late 2019, before investing more in the drug last March when preparing for the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. As of last month, 191 patients have been prescribed Buvidal across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. Now, health boards across Wales are being encouraged to roll out the drug, too.