TREATMENT FIGHTS DRUG WITHDRAWAL

Stanford Study: Common Drug May Treat Heroin, Morphine Dependence
Without Major Side Effects

Addicts of heroin and prescription drugs such as codeine and morphine
might be able to break their dependence without severe withdrawal
symptoms, Stanford scientists announced Tuesday.

Researchers found that a commonly used pain medicine also blocks the
specific brain receptors that cause withdrawal symptoms for opioid
addicts. The medication, called ondansetron or Zofran, is often used
for chemotherapy patients suffering from nausea, is not addictive and
has few side effects.

The study was released online Tuesday in the Journal of
Pharmacogenetics and Genomics.

Opioid abuse is a serious and growing problem, said Dr. Larry Chu, the
study's lead author and an assistant professor of anesthesia at
Stanford's School of Medicine. About 12.5 million Americans aged 12
and older used prescription pain medicine for non-medical purposes in
2007, according to a government National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Addicts undergoing opioid withdrawal have symptoms including nausea,
vomiting, diarrhea, insomnia and agitation. Currently, those symptoms
are often treated with other opiates such as methadone and
buprenorphine, "simply switching one opiate for another, so the
patient is never fully detoxified," Chu said.

Another treatment uses the drug clonidine, which can cause severe
drops in blood pressure and has to be closely supervised.

"Really we don't have any truly effective ways to treat opioid
withdrawal in an outpatient setting," Chu said.

The Stanford researchers began their study using mice, which develop
addictions similar to humans and also display withdrawal symptoms.
Using genetic mapping, researchers determined there was one particular
gene and brain receptor responsible for determining the severity of
opioid withdrawal symptoms. They then had to find a drug to block that
receptor.

" We were very lucky," Chu said. " It turned out such a medication
already existed and had been approved by the FDA."

The medicine worked well for the mice, and since the drug was already
approved , the scientists were immediately able to test their theory
on humans in a small study.

Eight nonaddicted humans were given morphine in one session, and then
morphine plus the ondansetron in another session.

When they received the ondansetron, their withdrawal symptoms were
significantly reduced.

Chu said they plan to conduct a larger study, and hope to ultimately
move the research " out of the lab and into the detoxification center."