End of the X Waiver for Buprenorphine

Patients seeking buprenorphine, a partial opioid used to successfully treat opioid dependency and reduce overdoses, have classically had to get an waiver to get the drug in the US. This requirement, which effectively limited access to the lifesaving medication, is being lifted today as part of the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) act that was included in December’s omnibus bill.

According to Politico, “Practitioners who want to prescribe buprenorphine to their patients will still be required to get a DEA license, as they would any other controlled substance like morphine or Xanax. But they won’t have to face additional administrative requirements that have slowed down patient access to the drug for years.”

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(Source: Politico, January 24^th. 2023)