Taipei (dpa) - Taiwan and US researchers have found that a drug
used to treat Alzheimer's disease is effective in reducing heroin
dependency, it was announced Friday.
The discovery was made by the National Cheng Kung University
Hospital and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), following
ten years' research, Lu Ru-band, a psychiatrist at the Cheng Kung
hospital, told a news conference.
The Cheng Kung hospital and the NIH have applied for patent for
their discovery in the United States and the European Union, he
noted.
According to the study, memantine, which is used to treat
Alzheimers, is more effective in reducing heroin dependency
than methadone, a narcotic pain-reliever similar to morphine.
In many countries, methadone is used as a pain reliever or as
part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programmes.
"Methadone helps because a heroin addict can take one methadone
pill daily instead of having to taking a heroin shot every few hours
and run the risk of becoming infected with the HIV virus," Lu said.
"But as methadone is an opium-like compound, it is using a
long-action addictive drug to replace a short-action addictive drug,"
he said.
To test the effect of memantine, the Cheng Kung hospital used
90 heroin addicts in a three month trial.
During he trial, they all took methadone, but 48 also took
memantine, while 42 took Valium.
The study found that for those who took five milligrammes of
memantine daily, their dependency on methadone ,and neuro-toxicity,
fell and there was less damage to their liver function.
For those who took methadone and Valium, their neuro-toxicity
increased and liver functions was affected.
"Our human trial lasted only three months. We have no plan to
conduct longer trial because it is too costly," he said.
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