Thursday, February 15, 2018

Study aims to find which opioid addiction treatments work

On Monday the White House gave the green light to a national research effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to see which treatments are the most effective for the more than 2 million Americans addicted to opioids. Drug treatment is less available in rural areas.

Experts agree that medication-assisted therapy is the most effective way to treat opioid addiction, but the CDC says the study is needed because little data exists about the risks and benefits associated with each form of MAT. Each drug used in MAT has different characteristics and administration methods that can affect how well patients respond to the treatment.

"The study will target 60 treatment facilities and four primary-care facilities in 11 regions across the country that cover some of the states hit hardest by the epidemic. That list includes Alabama, California, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, among others." Virgil Dickson reports for Modern Healthcare. "The study will follow patients at these facilities over two years to better understand the factors of when medication-assisted treatment does or does not work. Individuals pursuing counseling without medication will also be followed.

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