Clinicians are hoping that an opioid substitution drug that works as an alternative to methadone, but only involves once-a-month injections, is set to transform how addiction services work in Ireland. Budival, a long-acting injectable form of buprenorphine, is already being taken by over 1200 patients, while nearly 10,000 received methadone treatment last year.

Leading psychiatrists working within HSE addiction services say that following a successful pilot programme and additional funding in this year’s budget, they are hoping that eventually the number of patients using Budival will far outnumber those on methadone...