Two meds for opioid addiction found effective and safe

A new study, published in The Lancet, shows that the two main medications prescribed to treat patients for opioid addiction appear to be equally effective and safe.

To test the two drugs, 570 addicts took either buprenorphine or naltrexone for 24 weeks. More than 80% of the participants in the study were addicted to heroin. The study took place between 2014 and 2017 in eight community drug treatment centres, which were part of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network.

After approximately six months, the relapse rates for participants taking the two medications were very similar – 56% for buprenorphine and 52% for naltrexone.

“The newer drug, naltrexone, was as effective in keeping patients off heroin, preventing relapse and overdose, as buprenorphine,” said lead researcher, Dr Joshua Lee, an associate professor at New York University School of Medicine’s departments of medicine and population health. He added that such promising results should reassure patients and medical professionals that naltrexone is safe and can curb the cycle of addiction.

Both anti-addiction medications work by curbing the drug users’ craving to get high. But, naltrexone requires addicts to detoxify before receiving their monthly injections of the medication. Lee concluded that this made it a less attractive option for some users because they needed to go through withdrawal before treatment for addiction could begin.

By comparison, addicts can take a daily pill containing buprenorphine without having to detoxify first. The medication acts as a replacement for opioids, like methadone. There is a downside though, because patients can become addicted to buprenorphine since it acts as an opioid.