DRUG APPROVED TO FIGHT HEROIN ADDICTION

THE anti-addiction drug Naltrexone, which can rescue heroin users and
alcoholics from their deadly habits, will be available on prescription
from March.

The Daily Telegraph has learned the Australian Drug Evaluation
Committee approved the drug amid mounting national frustration over
the battle against the spread of heroin.

It can remove cravings and is seen as superior to methadone which is a
replacement for, not a counter to, dangerous drugs.

Previously it has only been available in trials of rapid
detoxification programs. Desperate heroin addicts have paid up to
$30,000 for treatments in the US and Israel.

But it will be available soon through GPs for as little as $180 a
month to help people who have been through detoxification courses to
maintain their fight against addiction.

The latest Commonwealth Gazette describes it as "an aid in the
maintenance of previously opiate-dependent patients who have ceased
the use of opioids such as heroin and morphine".

A Therapeutic Goods Administration spokesman yesterday confirmed
Naltrexone had been approved for registration.

"Approval of Naltrexone enables any doctor, including general
practitioners, alcohol and drug specialists to prescribe Naltrexone as
a prescription-only product for heroin and alcohol addiction but not
for rapid detoxification," the spokesman said.

"Approval does not affect any current trials but information from the
trials will help determine more fully the role of the drug
particularly regarding . . . comparison with other heroin addiction
treatments."

Naltrexone, to be marketed as Revia, is a controversial anti-opiate
which, it has been claimed, can cure cravings.

Australian medical authorities have been divided about the benefits of
the drug for "cold turkey" treatment of heroin addicts.

Australian trials have involved patients undergoing a four-hour rapid
detox with the drug under general anaesthetic and taking Naltrexone
tablets for up to a year.

Up to 150 heroin users in Queensland have been involved in a $500,000,
two-year trial of the drug since January.

A Perth-based trial last year reported success rates of up to 90 per
cent, with the same result from the Rapid Detox Centre in Sydney. But
a pilot program at Sydney University last year found only 30 per cent
of patients emerged drug-free.

NSW Health Minister Andrew Refshauge told Parliament in September that
the drug was more successful in treating methadone users than heroin
users.

Naltrexone's Australian distributor, Orphan Australia, yesterday
confirmed the drug would be launched on March 1. Orphan managing
director Alastair Young said the drug would retail for between $180 to
$280 for a month-long supply of a once-a-day tablet to addicts.

He said the company would seek approval for listing it on the
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme which could lower the price

dramatically.

"Doctors will use it as they see fit," he said. "But it needs to be
part of a complete package involving counselling, family support and
supervision by the physician."
The Australian Medical Association said yesterday it would support
moves to have the drug on the PBS and endorsed its use for alcoholics.

AMA federal president Dr David Brand said there was strong evidence to
support Naltrexone usefulness in treating alcoholism.

"It is available but not for rapid detoxification programs," he said.
"It is a new weapon for doctors to use for patients who abuse alcohol
and it has very few, if any, side effects."

Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia chief executive David
Crosbie also welcomed the registration of Naltrexone.

"This treatment will be of benefit to some people but our only concern
is people use the drug appropriately," he said yesterday. "We are
concerned the drug will be seen as the total solution but it has to be
used in conjunction with other support.

"It may be effective while people are taking it but people need
support to keep taking it."

Mr Crosbie said between 5 and 10 per cent of adult Australians had
alcohol-related problems - or between 700,000 and 1.4 million people.