text: Partial agonists are any chemical that can bind to a receptor without eliciting the maximum downstream response as compared to the response from a full agonist. A given partial agonist's affinity for a given receptor is also irrelevant to the consequent effect. An example is buprenorphine, a partial opioid receptor agonist used to treat opioid addictions by directly substituting for them without the same strength of effect.