Obstacles
Naltrexone was approved by the FDA in 1984. In 1994, the FDA approved use of naltrexone in conjunction with drinking to extinguish alcohol dependence. Since then, its adoption has been slow and spotty. A possible cause for this is that it goes against the principles of most treatment organizations, which advocate abstinence and/or faith-based alcoholism recovery, in conjunction with abstinence. A related obstacle is that the treatment is fairly new, when most treatments already have well established support groups and are widely known.
Project Combine, the largest controlled clinical trial in the alcoholism treatment field, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in May, 2006, has shown "that while naltrexone was effective in its own right, combining it with the specialized counseling added no more effectiveness than naltrexone by itself" according to Dr. Raymond Anton, the coordinator for the trial. Naltrexone had been approved by the FDA for use within a comprehensive program of alcoholism treatment. The new results should lift this requirement, allowing doctors to prescribe naltrexone with only medical supervision but without intensive therapy. This confirms findings from earlier smaller trials with naltrexone in Australia and with nalmefene in Finland.
Read more about this topic: Sinclair Method
Famous quotes containing the word obstacles:
“It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“It is very rare that you meet with obstacles in this world which the humblest man has not faculties to surmount. It is true we may come to a perpendicular precipice, but we need not jump off, nor run our heads against it. A man may jump down his own cellar stairs, or dash his brains out against his chimney, if he is mad.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Life is like walking along a crowded street—there always seem to be fewer obstacles to getting along on the opposite pavement—and yet, if one crosses over, matters are rarely mended.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)