An experimental treatment for methamphetamine use disorder looks promising More users who received the two-medication therapy tested negative for methamphetamine after 12 weeks Researchers don't know if their success would endure MONDAY, June 10, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Though overdose deaths continue to surge, there is no approved medication to treat methamphetamine use disorder. Now, an experimental two-drug therapy has yielded promising results, UCLA researchers report. "These findings have important implications for pharmacological treatment for methamphetamine use disorder," said researcher Dr.
Michael Li , an assistant professor-in-residence of family medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, adding that methamphetamine-involved overdoses have surged. His team published its findings June 10 in the journal Addiction . In urine tests for methamphetamine, drug-free results rose 27% among participants who received a combination of injectable naltrexone plus extended-release oral buproprion.
Negative tests rose only 11%, meanwhile, in a control group. Methamphetamine abuse is a growing problem around the world, with an estimated 34 million users in 2020 compared to 33 million 10 years earlier. In the United States alone, overdose deaths rose fivefold between 2012 and 2018.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network has supported various trials, including this one, to evaluate different treatments for methamphetamine use disorder. This trial.