NEW HEROIN ADDICTION TREATMENTS WORK AS WELL AS METHADONE

The first head-to-head comparison of treatments for heroin addiction
found that two newer, easier-to-take medicines work just as well as
methadone, the standard drug since the 1960s. Unlike methadone, which
has to be taken daily, the two other drugs are longer-acting and can
be taken only three times a week.

Previous studies have shown all three medications--methadone, Orlaam
and buprenorphine--to be effective in treating heroin addiction.
Orlaam was approved in 1993, but is not widely used. Buprenorphine is
awaiting approval. A team from Johns Hopkins University studied 220
heroin addicts for 17 weeks and reported in today's New England
Journal of Medicine that all were roughly equally effective.