NEW DRUG EASES USERS OFF OPIATES, ISN'T ADDICTIVE

Detoxification from opiates is misery, with intense physical symptoms
that rack the body: chills, nervousness, fidgeting, sleeplessness,
sweating, aches and pains, and diarrhea. The high the opiate promises
is matched only by the low of withdrawal.

A new drug may help people detoxify from addiction to drugs such as
heroin and the prescription painkillers Vicodin and OxyContin without
the usual symptoms. Lofexidine is in Phase 3 clinical trials and, if
approved by the Food and Drug Administration, would be the first
non-addictive drug approved in the U.S. for opiate withdrawal.

Currently, the only FDA-approved treatments for opiate detoxification
are the drugs methadone or buprenorphine, which can be addictive themselves.

"Typically you detoxify someone with another opiate, so you substitute
an addiction to heroin with an addiction to another drug," said Dr.
Mark Lerman, principal investigator for the Phase 3 trial being
conducted at Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital in Hoffman
Estates, where he is also medical director for research.

Clinical trials for Lofexidine are being conducted at medical
facilities throughout the U.S. The drug was approved in the United
Kingdom in 1990 and is currently sold for compassionate-care use to
Austria and Ireland.

Lofexidine can suppress many withdrawal symptoms and is non-addictive,
so it cannot be abused. "The risk is it can lower your blood pressure
and pulse so you have to be very careful," Lerman said.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that drug and alcohol
addiction affects millions of Americans, costing the nation nearly
$500 billion a year. The number of heroin abusers in the U.S. is
estimated between 600,000 and 1 million. Addiction to prescription
pain medication is on the rise too.

"This is one step forward in a brutal problem, not a panacea," Lerman
cautioned. Lofexidine does not reduce one's likelihood of relapse.
Many patients with opiate addiction habitually return to it and will
probably need long-term maintenance treatment with buprenorphine or
methadone. "If one out of three or four never use again, that's good."

But for those who have suffered through detox, it's a miracle. "I've
done other detoxes which have been very hard to complete as the
medication used was nowhere near as good as today," said Paul Collier,
30, who lives in Britain and has a 14-year history of heroin use.
"I've done my detox with Lofexidine and feel good and at ease. I have
not wanted to go out and use heroin.

"If you want to do it and you take the medication properly, you will
feel very little as it takes away all the symptoms. There may be a
slight shudder, but it is the best way of doing a detox."

The study is a collaborative effort of US WorldMeds, the National
Institute on Drug Abuse and the Department of Veterans Affairs
Cooperative Studies Program Coordinating Center in Perry Point, Md.

For information about the clinical trial, call 847-230-3591.