Combination buprenorphine-naloxone is a new possibility in the management of opioid addiction. Buprenorphine is a partial agonist on μ-receptors and antagonist on κ-receptors. Buprenorphine is widely used in detoxification and substitution therapy, but with a risk of abuse. Naloxone is pure antagonist of μ-receptors. Combination of buprenorphine-naloxone lowers addiction potential of buprenorphine. Naloxone given intravenously blocks effectively opioid receptors, but sublingual administration enables to preserve the therapeutic potential of the combination due to different pharmacokinetics. In this paper clinical effects and possible adverse effects of both compounds are described.

Key words: buprenorphine – naloxone – combination of both – treatment of opioid addiction