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How long does buprenorphine stay in your system?

Medically reviewed by Leigh Ann Anderson, PharmD. Last updated on Aug 18, 2024.

Official Answer by Drugs.com

After one sublingual or buccal dose, buprenorphine stays in your system for about 5 to 8 days if you are healthy or 7 to 12 days if you have liver disease.

How long buprenorphine stays in your system will mainly depend upon which form of buprenorphine you use, its elimination half-life (t1/2), and if you have liver disease.

Without liver disease

If you do not have liver disease, the elimination half-life of buprenorphine has been reported to be 26 hours for the transdermal form, 28 hours for the buccal form, and 31 to 35 hours for the sublingual forms, respectively.

The intravenous (IV) formulation has a half life of 2.2 hours, and the long-acting subcutaneous depot injection form has a half-life of 43 to 60 days due to its slow release, based on data from the package insert.

Considering that it takes about 5 half-lives for a drug to be eliminated from the body:

With liver disease

The length of time that buprenorphine remains in the body is prolonged in patients with moderate to severe liver disease.

If you have liver disease, buprenorphine will remain in your system longer and your doctor may need to lower your dose, or you may not be able to use buprenorphine at all.

See Buprenorphine Dosage for detailed information on buprenorphine dosage and administration.

How does buprenorphine come?

Buprenorphine is a partial opiate agonist used to manage moderate to severe pain and to treat opioid use disorder. Not all buprenorphine products are used to treat both pain and opioid addiction. Uses differ among products.

Buprenorphine comes as a single agent in several dosage forms:

Do not switch from any product that contains buprenorphine to another buprenorphine product without speaking to your doctor or other healthcare provider first. The amount of buprenorphine differs between products and can be dangerous or deadly if you switch. This includes products combined with naloxone and used for opioid use disorder.

Single agent buprenorphine brands include:

Single-agent buprenorphine also comes generically as transdermal patch, sublingual tablet, and IV injection. Generic medicines can usually save you money.

How does buprenorphine / naloxone come?

Buprenorphine is also combined with naloxone, an opioid antagonist, to treat opioid addiction as part of a complete treatment program that involves counseling and behavioral therapy.

These products include:

Both the buccal / sublingual film and the sublingual tablet combination products are available as generic options.

Learn more: Is buprenorphine the same as Suboxone?

This is not all the information you need to know about buprenorphine for safe and effective use and does not take the place of your doctor’s directions. Review the full buprenorphine information and discuss this information and any questions you have with your doctor or other health care provider.

References

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