Tuesday, June 17, 2003 @ 5:09 pm by Dr. Joe Graas	Drug Related News
Long-Lasting Formulation Also May Increase Naltrexone Compliance NIDA-supported researchers have been testing a long-lasting "depot" formulation of naltrexone that is aimed at reducing the three-times-a-week frequency with which patients must now take the medication to prevent them from getting high if they use heroin. The formulation is packaged in microcapsules injected under the skin that slowly release medication for several weeks. The sustained release of naltrexone is meant to maintain enough medication in the patient to suppress heroin's euphoric effects for an extended time. Clinical trials now under way are assessing the safety and efficacy of depot naltrexone. In a recent trial, Dr. Sandra D. Comer and a team of researchers from the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University tested depot naltrexone in an 8-week inpatient study with 12 heroin-dependent subjects to see how long the medication remains active in the human body and blocks heroin's effects. After detoxification, six patients received a low dose (192 mg) and six received a high dose (384 mg) of the medication. Patients in both groups subsequently were given a placebo or intravenous heroin once a day from Monday through Friday for 6 weeks. Each week, daily doses of heroin started at 6.5 mg and increased to 12.5, 18.75, and 25 mg; the placebo was administered randomly on one of the days. Click here for full article
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 @ 5:05 pm by Dr. Joe Graas	Drug Related News
UM study: Ritalin use may worsen cocaine abuse People who use cocaine regularly may have a harder time breaking the habit if they used Ritalin or the club drug Ecstasy in their youth, a University of Miami study suggests. The number of U.S. children and adolescents who were prescribed Ritalin and other stimulants surged dramatically in the 1990s. The study, conducted on laboratory mice, found that rodents given Ritalin and Ecstasy, then later cocaine, showed higher sensitivity to cocaine than those that hadn't been exposed to the first two stimulants. ''If they start using drugs, these guys that have been preexposed to Ritalin and Ecstasy may be more susceptible for relapse than others,'' said Yossef Itzhak, a UM professor of psychiatry and the lead researcher on the study. Click here for full article