Vol. 2 No. 7 (2022)
Health Technology Reviews

Diacetylmorphine for Adults With Opioid Dependence

Published July 13, 2022

Key Messages

  • Injectable diacetylmorphine might provide more benefits and lower costs compared with oral methadone maintenance therapy in patients with severe opioid use disorder.
  • The Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse guideline recommends that both injectable diacetylmorphine and hydromorphone should be considered as treatment options for individuals with severe, treatment-refractory opioid use disorder and ongoing illicit injection opioid use, and that the injectable opioid agonist treatment should have an end date to transition to an oral opioid agonist treatment.
  • No recent studies on the clinical effectiveness of diacetylmorphine for injection in comparison with methadone or buprenorphine were identified.
  • No cost-effectiveness studies of injectable diacetylmorphine compared with buprenorphine were identified.