Because of opioids’ abilities at treating moderate to severe pain, acute pain, and chronic pain, as well as their use in other roles, many doctors and medical facilities rely on them to provide patients with the best care possible for a range of conditions. While there are several ways to distribute opioids, one viable approach is using long-acting injectables, or LAIs, to achieve reliable and precise results.

At Oakwood Labs, we’re experts at long-acting injectable development for an array of medicine types, including opioids. Read on to learn about everything we can provide and why we’re the right choice for opioid medication development.

Uses and Forms of Long-Acting Injectable Opioids

Medical professionals may opt for long-acting injectables for opioid administration due to the many benefits the approach provides, or in some cases they may rely on LAIs when other methods are nonviable or unable to treat ongoing conditions effectively.

Specific applications can include distribution of:

• Medications for moderate to severe pain
• Medications for acute pain
• Medications for chronic pain
• Sedatives
• Anesthesia

Some of the opioids that have been successfully produced as extended-release medications include:

Benefits of Using LAIs for Opioid Administration

There are a variety of advantages to using long-acting injectables for opioids and other drugs, including:

• Reduced injections and less frequent doses – Patients need to receive injections only every few weeks or months, depending on the circumstances, compared to other application methods that may require daily use
• Prevention of drug abuse – Since opioids have the potential for abuse and addiction, using long-acting injectables for administration over other methods keeps the control in health professionals’ hands, preventing intentional or accidental abuse
• Improved adherence – With a regular injection schedule, patients will be less inclined to miss or forget doses, allowing them to stay on track and fully benefit from their treatment plan
• Consistent dosing – LAIs provide a steady dose of a drug over time, minimizing the peaks and valleys that can come about from daily oral medications

Long-Acting Injectable Development at Oakwood Labs

The Oakwood Labs long-acting injectable development process uses our technology platform Chroniject™. Some of the benefits of the Chroniject™ system and our overall LAI approach include:

• Medication release durations of 1 week to 1 year
• Formulations that are easy to scale
• Rapid development of formulations via small-scale batches
• Excellent stability characteristics
• Proven content uniformity
• Molecule compatibility with small molecules, proteins, and peptides
• Absence of foreign particulate matter
• Immediate reconstitution with WFI, and no special diluents are required
• Well-controlled process parameters
• Proven lot-to-lot reproducibility
• Ease of syringe administration with 18- to 23-gauge needles

Other Long-Acting Injectable Opportunities for Opioids

In addition to supplying LAIs for opioid drugs, our team is also adept at providing extended-release solutions for treating opioid use disorder. Though opioids have many uses for patient care, they can obviously be abused or lead to accidental addiction.

Just as LAIs excel at controlling opioid distribution, they can also help healthcare providers and patients treat addiction. If your organization is interested in this additional long-acting injectable application, know that you can benefit by way of:

• Removing the need for daily dosing, reducing the chance of missed doses and patient relapses
• Targeting specific areas of the body, particularly the brain, which affects withdrawal symptoms, cravings, and euphoric effects
• Ensuring consistent medication levels that can lead to improved patient outcomes

Contact Us for Opioid Long-Acting Injectables

The Oakwood Labs team is ready to provide your organization with the long-acting injection solutions you need to supply first-rate medical care. Reach out to our team today to discuss options.