Naltrexone

A new study found a big problem with a popular opioid addiction medication

For the first time, a new study in The Lancet, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), compared the effectiveness of naltrexone with buprenorphine in the US. The results were both promising and disappointing. While naltrexone is as effective as buprenorphine once treatment begins, it is also significantly more difficult to actually start naltrexone because it requires an extensive detox period — which can span more than a week — that buprenorphine does not.

How Safe Is America's Hottest Heroin Addiction Treatment?

Vivitrol is all the rage amid a brutal opioid epidemic. But it may also make it almost impossible to feel pleasure—and raise the risk of fatal overdose after relapse.

Opioid Addiction Study Finds the Drug Vivitrol, Once Begun, Is as Effective as Suboxone

Fewer study participants were able to start treatment with Vivitrol than with Suboxone, but those who were able to do so experienced similar efficacy.

A Much-Hyped Addiction Treatment Is Less Effective Than Older Meds

Despite what other headlines may say.

Long-awaited study finds monthly Vivitrol as effective as daily pill for opioid addiction

The largest head-to-head study to date between two leading drugs to treat opioid addiction has found them roughly equivalent — an outcome that could dramatically change prescribing habits and boost the fortunes of the newer drug, Vivitrol. The study, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, found that a monthly shot of naltrexone (sold as Vivitrol) is as effective as its main competitor, the daily pill of buprenorphine and naloxone (sold as Suboxone). Researchers found that about half of people with opioid addiction who took either drug remained free from relapse six months later. Previously, there’s been a “widespread belief” that patients “don’t do as well on naltrexone as they do on buprenorphine,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIDA. “We’re hopeful this changes the prejudice.”

Seizing on Opioid Crisis, a Drug Maker Lobbies Hard for Its Product

Five years ago, Vivitrol was a treatment for opioid addiction that was struggling to find a market. Now, its sales and profile are rising fast, thanks to its manufacturers’ shrewd use of political connections, and despite scant science to prove the drug’s efficacy.

The Last Shot

Amid a surging opiate crisis, the maker of the anti-addiction drug Vivitrol skirted the usual sales channels. It found a captive market for its once-a-month injection in the criminal justice system.

Vivitrol offers the fantasy of being drug-free. But that’s not the most important thing in tackling addiction

Stinging investigations by the New York Times, National Public Radio, ProPublica, and others have recently exposed how the drug maker Alkermes is promoting Vivitrol — a long-acting injection that blocks the effects of opioids — at the expense of other, better-studied treatments for opioid dependence.