INTRODUCTION AND AIMS To estimate the number of deaths that would have occurred among patients receiving oral naltrexone for opioid use under the Special Access Scheme if these patients had received methadone. DESIGN AND METHODS We analysed mortality in cohorts treated with oral naltrexone and methadone. Data were from 1097 patients of in WA providing oral naltrexone for opioid use under the ...

Both naltrexone and acamprosate have been utilized clinically in recovering alcoholics with varying success. In the experiment reported here the combination of naltrexone and acamprosate was examined in a limited access alcohol model using C57BL/6 mice to determine if there was evidence of additive or synergistic effects. The results of this experiment demonstrate that naltrexone, at the higher...

OBJECTIVE Dysphoria and depression have been cited as side effects of the opioid antagonist naltrexone. We aimed to assess whether depressive symptoms are a clinically relevant side effect in a population receiving naltrexone as a treatment for opioid dependence. METHODS We carried out a randomized controlled, open-label trial comparing rapid opiate detoxification under anesthesia and naltrex...

Blockade of brain mu-opioid receptor (mu-OR) and delta-opioid receptor (delta-OR) was investigated in recently abstinent alcohol-dependent subjects (N=21) maintained on naltrexone. Subjects completed a 19-day inpatient protocol, which included alcohol abstinence followed by naltrexone treatment (50 mg) on days 15-19. Blood samples were collected after the first administration of naltrexone to e...

Blockade of brain m-opioid receptor (m-OR) and d-opioid receptor (d-OR) was investigated in recently abstinent alcohol-dependent subjects (N1⁄4 21) maintained on naltrexone. Subjects completed a 19-day inpatient protocol, which included alcohol abstinence followed by naltrexone treatment (50 mg) on days 15–19. Blood samples were collected after the first administration of naltrexone to evaluate...

Two pharmacotherapies recently introduced in Australia, acamprosate and naltrexone, provide a major advance in the treatment of severe alcohol dependence, a common condition leading to a considerable burden of illness and major costs to the community. Acamprosate and naltrexone reduce alcohol intake, and increase the likelihood and prolong the duration of abstinence (Level I evidence). Compared...

Efficacy is one determinant of whether a drug is an agonist or an antagonist under a particular set of conditions. Relative efficacy among the micro opioid receptor (MOR) ligands buprenorphine, nalbuphine, and morphine was examined in monkeys dependent on morphine (3.2 mg/kg/day) or l-alpha-acetylmethadol (LAAM) (1.0 mg/kg twice daily) and that discriminated naltrexone (0.0178 mg/kg) from salin...

BACKGROUND There is mixed support for the efficacy of the opioid antagonist naltrexone in the treatment of nicotine dependence. One potential unexplored mechanism underlying naltrexone's effects in smoking cessation may be in its ability to reduce alcohol consumption. METHODS Alcohol consumption and liver enzyme levels (aspartate aminotransferase and alanine transaminase) were examined in a s...

Naltrexone is not recommended during pregnancy. However, sustained-release naltrexone implant use in humans has resulted in cases of inadvertent foetal exposure. Here, we used clinically relevant dosing to examine the effects of maternally administered sustained-release naltrexone on the rat brain by examining offspring at birth and in adulthood. Maternal treatment (naltrexone or placebo implan...

Eight double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials in five countries have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of naltrexone as an adjunct in alcoholism treatment. The efficacy depends, however, on how naltrexone is used. Three of the trials tested naltrexone two ways: 1) with supportive therapy, i.e., support of complete abstinence, 2) with therapy tacitly accepting that relapses may occur ...