Memantine as a Supplement to Naltrexone in Treating Heroin Dependence

Summary

Prospective participants will undergo a screening process at the clinic to determine eligibility. After screening, eligible patients will complete an 8-day inpatient detoxification, followed by a 12-week outpatient phase. Patients will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions (1) Naltrexone + Placebo; (2) Naltrexone + Memantine 20 mg bid. Long-acting, injectable form of naltrexone (Vivitrol) will be administered once per month (the total of three injections) while memantine or placebo will be taken daily. In addition, patients will receive twice weekly psychosocial intervention that will include motivational interviewing and cognitive-behavioral relapse prevention. The outpatient treatment will also consist of 3 weekly visits to the clinic in which patients will receive counseling to help maintain abstinence and improve compliance with study medication.

Timeline

Start

2008-06

Primary completion

2011-08

Completion

2011-08

Publications

• Results Bisaga A, Sullivan MA, Cheng WY, Carpenter KM, Mariani JJ, Levin FR, Raby WN, Nunes EV. A placebo controlled trial of memantine as an adjunct to oral naltrexone for opioid dependence. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2011 Dec 1;119(1-2):e23-9. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.05.019. Epub 2011 Jun 28.

Drugs

Indications