Assessment of the acceptability of methadone tablet therapy compared to syrup at the Fidenza SerDP

Journal title MISSION
Author/s S. Gariboldi, M.I. Pignacca, C. Porta, O. Nonnis, C. Quatraro, D. Aimi, L. Tadonio
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2025/72
Language Italian Pages 5 P. 57-61 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/mis72-2025oa21727
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

View article Download Open Access article

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The present study compared the acceptability of two methadone formulations (syrup vs tablets) in a sample of 44 patients with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD).
The analyses revealed signifi cant differences in favor of the tablet formulation in six of the seven dimensions investigated.
Notable advantages emerged in terms of taste, ease of transport and storage, maintenance of privacy, reduction of dosing issues, and positive impact on daily life.
Most patients receiving the tablet formulation also reported no difficulties in switching from the liquid formulation, expressing an intention to continue with tablets and to recommend them to other patients.
These results suggest that methadone tablets may improve the patient experience and promote greater treatment adherence, while also reducing the indirect costs for services. Future studies with larger samples and attention to pharmacoeconomics will be needed to confirm these findings and support clinical and organizational choices aimed at personalization and sustainability of treatments.

Keywords: Acceptability;Opioids;Methadone;Addiction;Satisfaction

  1. Andersen O., Zweidorff O.K., Hjelde T., & Rødland E. A. (1995). Problemer med å svelge tabletter. Spørreundersøkelse fra allmennpraksis [Problems when swallowing tablets. A questionnaire study from general practice]. Tidsskrift for den Norske laegeforening: tidsskrift for praktisk medicin, ny raekke, 115(8): 947-949.
  2. Barbosa C.D., Balp M.M., Kulich K., Germain N., & Rofail D.A. (2012). A literature review to explore the link between treatment satisfaction and adherence, compliance, and persistence. Patient Preference and Adherence, 6: 39-48. Doi: 10.2147/PPA.S24752.
  3. Mircioiu C., & Atkinson J. (2017). A comparison of parametric and non-parametric methods applied to a Likert scale. Pharmacy, 5(2), 26. Doi: 10.3390/pharmacy5020026.
  4. Bruno G.M., Caruggi M., Ciccarone A., Valentino M.C., Ariano V., De Fazio S., Leonardi C., Ventre G., Riglietta M., Somaini L., Corbetta A., & Colombo G.L. (2024). Differences in the time needed for solid versus liquid delivery of methadone for patients with opioid use disorder in Italy: The SO.LI.D.O 2 study. Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, 15(2): 123-130. Doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2024.03.005.
  5. Carlson M.J., & Gabriel R.M. (2001). Patient satisfaction, use of services, and one-year outcomes in publicly funded substance abuse treatment. Psychiatric Services, 52(9): 1230-1236. Doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.52.9.1230.
  6. Ciccarone A., Valentino M.C., Caruggi M., & Bruno G.M. (2022). L’erogazione del metadone cloridrato sciroppo in Italia: fabbisogno e costi sostenuti dalle regioni e province autonome. Clinico Economics, 17: 237-248. Doi: 10.2147/CEOR.S396907.
  7. Cunningham C. et al. (2020). The ASAM national practice guideline for the treatment of opioid use disorder: 2020 focused update. J Addict Med., 14(2S Suppl 1): 1-91.
  8. Davis E.L., Kelly P.J., Deane F.P., Baker A.L., Buckingham M., Degan T., & Adams S. (2020). The relationship between patient-centered care and outcomes in specialist drug and alcohol treatment: A systematic literature review. Substance Abuse, 41(2): 216-231. Doi: 10.1080/08897077.2019.1671940.
  9. Ellefsen R., Wüsthoff L.E.C., & Arnevik E.A. (2023). Patients’ satisfaction with heroinassisted treatment: a qualitative study. Harm reduction journal, 20(1), 73. Doi: 10.1186/s12954-023-00808-8.
  10. Hall N.Y., Le L., Majmudar I., & Mihalopoulos C. (2021). Barriers to accessing opioid substitution treatment for opioid use disorder: A systematic review from the client perspective. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 221, 108651. Doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108651.
  11. Harpe S.E. (2015). How to analyze Likert and other rating scale data. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 7(6): 836-850. Doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2015.08.001.
  12. Kelly S.M., O’Grady K.E., Brown B.S., Mitchell S.G., & Schwartz R.P. (2010). The Role of Patient Satisfaction in Methadone Treatment. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 36(3): 150-154. Doi: 10.3109/00952991003736371.
  13. Leonard K.V., Robertson C., Bhowmick A., & Herbert L.B. (2020). Perceived treatment satisfaction and effectiveness facilitators among patients with chronic health conditions: A self-reported survey. Interactive Journal of Medical Research, 9(1), e13029. Doi: 10.2196/13029.
  14. Lim J., Farhat I., Douros A., & Panagiotoglou D. (2022). Relative effectiveness of medications for opioid-related disorders: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLOS ONE, 17(3), e0266142. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266142.
  15. Limenh L.W., Tessema T.A., Simegn W., Ayenew W., Bayleyegn Z.W., Sendekie A.K., … Kasahun A.E. (2024). Patients’ Preference for Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms: Does It Affect Medication Adherence? A Cross-Sectional Study in Community Pharmacies. Patient Preference and Adherence, 18: 753-766. Doi: 10.2147/PPA.S456117.
  16. Lugoboni F., Zamboni L., Cibin M., & Tamburin S. (2019). Intravenous misuse of methadone, buprenorphine and buprenorphine-naloxone in patients under opioid maintenance treatment: A cross-sectional multicentre study. European Addiction Research, 25(1): 10-19. Doi: 10.1159/000496112.
  17. Mattick R.P., Breen C., Kimber J., & Davoli M. (2014). Buprenorphine maintenance versus placebo or methadone maintenance for opioid dependence [Review]. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (2), CD002207. Doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD002207.
  18. Nesse L., & Clausen T. (2025). Treatment satisfaction among patients in opioid agonist treatment in Norway: A multicenter cohort study. Nordisk alkohol- & narkotikatidskrift: NAT, 42(4): 353-364. Doi: 10.1177/14550725251351711.
  19. Nguyen V.T., Chan E.S., Chou S.H., Godwin J.D., Fligner C.L., Schmidt R.A., & Pipavath S.N.J. (2014). Pulmonary effects of i.v. injection of crushed oral tablets: “Excipient lung disease”. AJR. American Journal of Roentgenology, 203(5): W506-W515. Doi: 10.2214/AJR.14.12582.
  20. Religioni U., Barrios-Rodríguez R., Requena P., Borowska M., & Ostrowski J. (2025). Enhancing therapy adherence: Impact on clinical outcomes, healthcare costs, and patient quality of life. Medicina, 61(1), 153. Doi: 10.3390/medicina61010153.
  21. Romano J., Kromrey J., Coraggio J., & Skowronek J. (2006). Appropriate statistics for ordinal level data: should we really be using t-test and Cohen’s d for evaluating group differences on the NSSE and other surveys? Annual meeting of the Florida Association of Institutional Research.
  22. Shadnia S., Rahimi M., Hassanian-Moghaddam H., Soltaninejad K., & Noroozi A. (2013). Methadone toxicity: Comparing tablet and syrup formulations during a decade in an academic poison center of Iran. Clinical Toxicology, 51(8): 777-782. Doi: 10.3109/15563650.2013.830732.
  23. Schiele J.T., Quinzler R., Klimm H.D., Pruszydlo M.G., & Haefeli W.E. (2013). Difficulties swallowing solid oral dosage forms in a general practice population: prevalence, causes, and relationship to dosage forms. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 69(4): 937-948. Doi: 10.1007/s00228-012-1417-0.
  24. Somaini L., Leonardi C., De Fazio S., & Vecchio S. (2022). Confronto tra formulazioni solide e liquide di farmaci agonisti oppioidi nel trattamento del Disturbo da uso di Oppiacei (Studio SO.LI.D.O). SITOX Informa, 25(1): 4-8.
  25. Somaini L., Vecchio S., Salvatore D.F., Ercolini A., & Gori D. (2021). Different formulations of methadone and levomethadone in the management of opioid use disorder. Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems, 23(1): 1-13. Doi: 10.2478/harcp-2021-0001.
  26. Windle E., Tee H., Sabitova A., Jovanovic N., Priebe S., & Carr C. (2020). Association of Patient Treatment Preference with Dropout and Clinical Outcomes in Adult Psychosocial Mental Health Interventions: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA psychiatry, 77(3): 294-302. Doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.3750.
  27. Zhang Z., Gerstein D.R., & Friedmann P.D. (2008). Patient satisfaction and sustained outcomes of drug abuse treatment. Journal of Health Psychology, 13(3): 388-400.
  28. Zinsstag J., Schelling E., Waltner-Toews D., & Tanner M. (2011). From “one medicine” to “one health” and systemic approaches to health and well-being. Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 101(3-4): 148-156.

S. Gariboldi, M.I. Pignacca, C. Porta, O. Nonnis, C. Quatraro, D. Aimi, L. Tadonio, Valutazione del gradimento della terapia con metadone compresse rispetto allo sciroppo presso il SerDP di Fidenza in "MISSION" 72/2025, pp 57-61, DOI: 10.3280/mis72-2025oa21727