Terren Peizer - Hythiam and Prometa

Hythiam and Prometa

Peizer founded the Prometa Treatment Program in 2003 and launched Hythiam, Inc. in 2004. Peizer capitalized the company with in excess of $170 Million. The Prometa program, which cost consumers $15,000 for a three-part infusion, uses a combination of three FDA approved medications, none of which had ever been used to treat substance dependence. Peizer was successful in getting Hythiam listed on the NASDAQ Global Market Exchange, using a technique Peizer has utilized many times before, and has become Wall Street's leader in, the Reverse Merger or Reverse Public Offering (RPO). In July 2010, Hythiam and Peizer gained its first heath plan customer (Health Plan of Nevada, Inc. ), joining Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers in its adoption of Hythiam's Catasys Integrated Substance Dependence Solution. Peizer still envisions Hythiam's treatment methodology being deployed throughout the nation.

Hythiam’s success has not come without criticism. Hythiam gained some notice for its 2006 ad campaign licensing deceased comedian Chris Farley’s image with the slogan, "It wasn't all his fault" (alluding to his death from a drug overdose). This advertisement campaign garnered national attention, as Peizer became a fixture on the American news circuit, regularly appearing on national news syndicates such as Fox News, CNN, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and CNBC's Squawk Box and Mad Money. Despite questions about its tastefulness, and criticism from addiction treatment providers for advertising direct to consumers, Peizer defended the campaign as "creating awareness" about addiction as a medical disease, not a social and psychological personality disorder.

Other critics focused on the company's emphasis on sales over research that would establish the validity of Prometa, especially since the FDA restricts marketing of drugs to the purpose for which they have been approved. Peizer justified the company's approach in a 60 Minutes episode as providing information about the treatment protocol to physicians, since Hythiam does not market the medications directly to consumers. The physicians in the practice of medicine then prescribe the medications to the patients in need.The FDA allows physicians to prescribe all FDA approved medications off label in the practice of medicine. Addiction experts marveled that Peizer was exploiting a nuance and "loophole" that no one ever dared before him.