Subutex and Suboxone are medications that share an active ingredient: buprenorphine. The difference is that Suboxone has an additional ingredient called naloxone. Naloxone is the same medication that first responders use to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Suboxone is an opiate, but it’s in a different category than other opiates like oxycodone or heroin. The opioid component of Suboxone is called buprenorphine. Buprenorphine is a partial agonist that affects the opioid receptors in the brain, but to a lesser extent than other common opioids.

Suboxone is a combination drug commonly used to help manage opioid addiction. It reaches peak blood concentration levels in most users within 3 hours of taking a dose. The effects of the drug slowly taper off from there, lasting up to three days. Even after the effects fade, the medication remains detectable on drug screenings. 

While the two are similar, Suboxone and methadone are not the same medication. The active ingredients in Suboxone are buprenorphine and naloxone. For methadone, the active ingredient is methadone hydrochloride.