ANOTHER BIG PHARMA VICTORY –
Feb. 8, 2023 – That requirement had been in place for two decades, and its reversal had been a priority for some activists because the policy discouraged doctors from prescribing the drug. To get the waiver — known as an “x-waiver” — providers had to do either an 8- or 24-hour training, depending on their levels of experience. Once they’d obtained the waiver, they were subject to random Drug Enforcement Administration audits and the number of patients they could prescribe buprenorphine for was capped.
One study found that just 10% of primary care providers in the U.S. were certified to prescribe buprenorphine from 2007 to 2017. “The waiver requirement really served to limit access to an effective treatment for opioid use disorder during an unprecedented opioid crisis,” said Lindsey Vuolo, the vice president of health law and policy at the nonprofit organization Partnership to End Addiction.
Jennifer Potter, vice president for research at UT Health San Antonio, said medical experts had been wanting to get rid of the waiver for “years, if not a decade or more.”
