ReviewPain and therapy2020
A Narrative Pharmacological Review of Buprenorphine: A Unique Opioid for the Treatment of Chronic Pain.
Review in Pain and therapy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 153 citations in OpenAlex.
- Strategy for effective analgesia with intravenous buprenorphine in patients with acute postoperative pain.BMC anesthesiology · 2025Pooled it
- A Phase I Placebo-Controlled Trial Comparing the Effects of Buprenorphine Buccal Film and Oral Oxycodone Hydrochloride Administration on Respiratory Drive.Advances in therapy · 2020Trial
- Brixadi for Stimulant Use Disorder: Evolving Pharmacologic Considerations and Clinical Implications.Advances in therapy · 2026Review
- Extended-release buprenorphine in adults with opioid use disorder involving poppy seed tea: An 18-month retrospective case series.The American journal on addictions · 2026Article
- An Individualized, Interdisciplinary Approach to the Perioperative Care of Patients on Buprenorphine.Current pain and headache reports · 2026Review
- Anesthetics as emerging therapeutics for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): bridging bench and bedside.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Can Buprenorphine Be Overdosed? The Ceiling Effect and Its Clinical Implications.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Brief Report on screening data from a randomized controlled trial of in-hospital buprenorphine initiation strategies.Research square · 2026Article
- Reframing Buprenorphine as a Pharmacologic Modifier of Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression in the Fentanyl Era.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Carprofen and buprenorphine delivery using micropipette-guided drug administration (MDA) in mice.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Acute buprenorphine exposure depresses neonatal respiratory chemoreflexes in the presence or absence of naloxone.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Identification of Subtype-Selective Binding Sites in the Opioid Receptor Family.Journal of chemical information and modeling · 2026Article
- Buprenorphine Microinduction Treatment in Tri-Diagnosis Patients with Opioid Use Disorder and Chronic Non-Cancerous Pain.Current pain and headache reports · 2026Review
- Economic and Treatment Burden of Chronic Low-Back Pain Patients Transitioning from Short-Acting to Long-Acting Opioids or Buprenorphine Buccal Film: US Claims Analysis.Pain and therapy · 2026Article
- The Buprenorphine Paradox: How Buprenorphine Triggers and Resolves Opioid Withdrawal.Addiction biology · 2026Article
- Iatrogenic physiologic opioid dependence masquerading as recurrent acute pancreatitis flares: case series.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Article
- Animal Models of Prenatal Opioid Exposure: Insights into Impaired Neurodevelopment.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Treatment characteristics and safety profiles of Belbuca®, buprenorphine patch, and oral schedule II opioids among chronic low back pain patients without a positive history of opioid-use disorder: a retrospective US commercial claims analysis.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Primary Mucosal Routes of Opioid Administration for Treating Terminal Cancer Pain: Rectal, Buccal, and Intranasal Delivery.Cancer management and research · 2026Review
- Systemic administration of analgesic buprenorphine, but not carprofen, affects cardiomyocyte contractility in rodents.Journal of molecular and cellular cardiology plus · 2025Article
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Buprenorphine is a Schedule III opioid analgesic with unique pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties that may be preferable to those of Schedule II full μ-opioid receptor agonists. The structure of buprenorphine allows for multimechanistic interactions with opioid receptors μ, δ, κ, and opioid receptor-like 1. Buprenorphine is considered a partial agonist with very high binding affinity for the μ-opioid receptor, an antagonist with high binding affinity for the δ- and κ-opioid receptors, and an agonist with low binding affinity for the opioid receptor-like 1 receptor. Partial agonism at the μ-opioid receptor does not provide partial analgesia, but rather analgesia equivalent to that of full μ-opioid receptor agonists. In addition, unlike full μ-opioid receptor agonists, buprenorphine may have a unique role in mediating analgesic signaling at spinal opioid receptors while having less of an effect on brain receptors, potentially limiting classic opioid-related adverse events such as euphoria, addiction, or respiratory depression. The pharmacokinetic properties of buprenorphine are also advantageous in a clinical setting, where metabolic and excretory pathways allow for use in patients requiring concomitant medications, the elderly, and those with renal or hepatic impairment. The unique pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of buprenorphine translate to an effective analgesic with a potentially favorable safety profile compared with that of full μ-opioid receptor agonists for the treatment of chronic pain.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.