Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Linkage at Strategic Touchpoints Using Buprenorphine (OUTLAST-B)

This study will examine the effectiveness of opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment linkage strategies for patients identified at sexual health clinics and through community outreach and referrals. This 3-arm RCT will compare Usual Care vs. Patient Navigation vs. Patient Navigation + Buprenorphine Initiation (UC vs. PN vs. PN+BUP).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Opioid-use Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Patient Navigation; Drug: Buprenorphine

Detailed Description

This study, entitled Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Linkage at Strategic Touchpoints using Buprenorphine (OUTLAST-B), will examine opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment linkage strategies for people with untreated OUD, recruiting from sexual health clinics and through community outreach and referrals. This three-arm, parallel randomized clinical trial (RCT) will compare Usual Care (UC), vs. referral via Patient Navigation (PN), vs. Patient Navigation with buprenorphine initiation (PN+BUP).

The UC Arm will include standard services at the sexual health clinic / city health department (if applicable), enhanced with brief overdose prevention education (including access to naloxone).

The PN Arm will include all UC Arm services, with the addition of a Patient Navigator who will assist the participant in selecting a community OUD treatment program, facilitate an intake appointment, help to resolve barriers and coordinate OUD treatment entry, and support early retention in OUD treatment.

The PN+BUP Arm will include all PN Arm services, with the addition of meeting with a study clinician to initiate buprenorphine treatment, as a bridge until successful transfer to OUD treatment in the community.

Research assessments consisting of a structured interview battery and biomarkers for drug use and sexually transmitted infections will be conducted at baseline, 3-, and 6-month follow-up. Selected outcomes will be examined through 12-months via health record linkage methods. The study will examine participant outcomes in the domains of: (1) OUD treatment entry and retention, (2) Opioid use and related problems (including fatal and non-fatal overdose), and (3) HIV/STD-related outcomes.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 373
• Phase: Phase 2; Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Maryland
    • Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21201
      • Friends Research Institute
    • Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21202
      • Baltimore City Health Department Sexual Health Clinics

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age 18 or older
2. Opioid use in the past 30 days
3. DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for OUD with physiological dependence
4. Willing to try buprenorphine treatment.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. current enrollment in OUD treatment with buprenorphine, methadone, or extended-release naltrexone
2. clinical contraindication with buprenorphine (e.g., allergy to buprenorphine or naloxone, chronic pain management with opioid agonists)
3. regular use of illicit long-acting opioid agonists (e.g., methadone; due to potential challenges with dose induction)
4. heavy alcohol use that, in the judgement of the prescribing provider, raises a safety concern that precludes eligibility for buprenorphine induction
5. high dose or intravenous benzodiazepine misuse
6. pregnancy (due to special needs; will be treated outside of the study)
7. unstable medical or psychiatric illness (e.g., psychosis or active suicidal ideation)
8. inability to provide informed consent (e.g., failure to pass consent quiz)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Patient Navigation (PN); The PN Arm will include all UC Arm services, with the addition of a Patient Navigator who will assist the participant in selecting a community OUD treatment program, facilitate an intake appointment, help to resolve barriers and coordinate OUD treatment entry, and support early retention in OUD treatment.	Behavioral: Patient Navigation; A Patient Navigator will work with participants to facilitate their entry into OUD treatment in the community (e.g., by selecting a program, scheduling intake appointments, and addressing barriers to facilitate successful treatment linkage).
No Intervention: Usual Care (UC); The UC Arm will include standard services from the sexual health clinic / city health department (if applicable; at the time of the study, no standardized intervention for opioid use disorder treatment linkage), enhanced with brief overdose prevention education (including access to naloxone).
Experimental: Patient Navigation + Buprenorphine Initiation (PN+BUP); The PN+BUP Arm will include all PN Arm services, with the addition of meeting with a study clinician to initiate buprenorphine treatment, as a bridge until successful transfer to OUD treatment in the community. The standard buprenorphine bridge prescription will be for buprenorphine/naloxone film: 8/2mg, up to 16mg per day, 7 day supply.	Behavioral: Patient Navigation; A Patient Navigator will work with participants to facilitate their entry into OUD treatment in the community (e.g., by selecting a program, scheduling intake appointments, and addressing barriers to facilitate successful treatment linkage).; Drug: Buprenorphine; Buprenorphine is an FDA-approved medication for opioid dependence, and will be used in this study consistent with its approved use (but will be initiated in the novel setting of sexual health clinics in this health services study). Participants will meet with an sexual health clinic provider who holds a waiver to prescribe buprenorphine. Participants will initiate buprenorphine treatment via a home induction under the direction of the provider. Because barriers to transfer may take some time to overcome, participants will be able to receive additional bridge buprenorphine up to two times (up to 15 days' supply at a time) until successful transfer to OUD treatment in the community.; Other Names: Buprenorphine/naloxone sublingual film

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
OUD treatment entry (number [%] of participants who enter OUD treatment)	The primary outcome for the trial is OUD treatment entry by 1 month post-enrollment, defined as admission to a buprenorphine provider (either office-based care or a specialty OUD program), or other licensed OUD treatment program (e.g., methadone, medical detox followed by behavioral treatment).	1 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
OUD treatment retention	Treatment retention will be examined as a secondary outcome and will be determined by self-report, with confirmation of admission/discharge dates through provider records if available.	6 months
Opioid use (self-report)	Self-reported days of opioid use in the past 30 days	6 months
Opioid use (urine test)	Opioid urine drug test	6 months
Cocaine use (self-report)	Self-reported days of cocaine use in the past 30 days	6 months
Cocaine use (urine test)	Cocaine urine drug test	6 months
OUD diagnostic criteria	Opioid use disorder diagnostic criteria will be assessed using items from the OUD criteria checklist derived from the modified World Mental Health-Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI) items that map to the diagnostic criteria. The time frame of the criteria will be modified to past 30 days to capture acute changes.	6 months
Opioid overdose	Participants will be asked at follow-up about non-fatal opioid overdose experiences. We will obtain medical examiner reports to confirm fatal overdoses.	6 months
Sex Risk Behaviors	Risky sex behaviors will be gauged by self-report, and include past 90 day frequency of unprotected sex and number of sex partners.	6 months
Drug Risk Behaviors	Risky drug injection practices in the past 90-days, gauged by self-report	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Friends Research Institute, Inc.
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA); Baltimore City Health Department
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jan Gryczynski, Friends Research Institute, Inc.

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Nordeck CD, Sharma A, Terplan M, Dusek K, Gilliams E, Gryczynski J. Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Linkage at Strategic Touchpoints Using Buprenorphine (OUTLAST-B): Rationale, Design, and Evolution of a Randomized Controlled Trial. J Psychiatr Brain Sci. 2023;8(6):e230010. doi: 10.20900/jpbs.20230010. Epub 2023 Dec 25.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 17, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Actual): January 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 28, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 28, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): August 5, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 29, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 27, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Narcotic-Related Disorders; Mental Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Opioid-Related Disorders; Health Services Administration; Heterocyclic Compounds; Heterocyclic Compounds, Fused-Ring; Alkaloids; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; Polycyclic Compounds; Heterocyclic Compounds, 4 or More Rings; Morphinans; Opiate Alkaloids; Heterocyclic Compounds, Bridged-Ring; Phenanthrenes; Patient Care Management; Comprehensive Health Care; Patient-Centered Care; Primary Health Care; Buprenorphine; Patient Navigation
• Other Study ID Numbers: R01DA045724 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: We will share de-identified IPD and supporting documentation pending approval of an application and data use agreement with Friends Research Institute
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Access to de-identified data may be requested after publication of the primary and secondary outcome findings (approximately one year after study completion).
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Application to Friends Research Institute.; Approval of the application and secondary analysis protocol by Friends Research Institute.; Execution of a data use agreement between the requesting party and Friends Research Institute.; IRB-approval of the proposed secondary research protocol.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: Yes
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No