The Scottish Medicines Consortium did not recommend Buprenorphine transdermal patchs for severe pain:
ADVICE: following a third re-submission
Buprenorphine transdermal patches (Butrans) are not recommended for use within NHS
Scotland for the treatment of severe opioid responsive pain conditions, which are not
adequately responding to non-opioid analgesics.In the patient population considered in this submission, severe osteoarthritis pain in elderly
patients whose pain is not adequately controlled by non-opioid analgesics, or for whom other
analgesics are not suitable, buprenorphine transdermal 7-day patch was superior to placebo
and similar in efficacy to World Health Organisation (WHO) ‘Step 2’ analgesic comparator
agents.The manufacturer did not present a sufficiently robust economic analysis to gain acceptance
by the SMC.
Source: Scottish Medicines Consortium. Drug Advice: Buprenorphine transdermal patches