People who have become addicted to opioids, including prescription pain medications, may be able to kick the habit more easily now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new medication for the treatment of opioid dependence. Vivitrol, previously approved and used to treat alcohol dependence, has now been approved for opioid addiction.Vivitrol is a non-narcotic, non-addictive medication that is administered in a once-a-month injection.
Vivitrol is the brand name of the drug naltrexone, which was approved in 2006 by the FDA for the treatment of alcoholism. It works by blocking receptors in the brain that cause the pleasurable effects of alcohol and drug abuse, thereby reducing cravings.
A Once-a-Month Treatment
The main advantage of the Vivitrol form of the drug is that it is a once-a-month treatment that reduces cravings throughout the month, rather than a daily treatment.
Alkermes, the company that makes Vivitrol, financed studies to demonstrate how the medication worked with actual opioid dependent patients. Those who took the Vivitrol injection had opioid-free urine samples 90 percent of the time, compared to 35 percent for those who took a placebo injection.
The main side effects experienced by patients who took the drug were inflammation of nasal passages, increased liver enzymes and insomnia.
Vivitrol Not For Current Drug Users
The drug is designed to be used for patients who have already gone through opioid detoxification and no longer have any opioids in their system. It should not be given to patients who have positive urine screens, the company said on its website.
The drug is designed to prevent relapse, not stop someone who is using opioids from using them.
The company's safety information says: "Vivitrol is contraindicated in patients with acute hepatitis or liver failure, patients receiving opioid analgesics, patients with current physiologic opioid dependence, patients in acute opiate withdrawal, any individual who has failed the naloxone challenge test or has a positive urine screen for opioids, and in patients who have previously exhibited hypersensitivity to naltrexone."
Pharmaceutical Treatments:
Photo: © Alkermes, Inc.
For years I am using naltrexon for opioid dependence. Vivitrol has the same effect like naltrexon, so I am confidenet that vivitrol will be effectiv also.
Dr.Hermon Mihranian