Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy
Open Access

Research Article

The Effects of 6β-Naltrexol, a Putative Neutral Opioid Antagonist, in Opioid-Dependent Subjects: A Proof-of-Concept Trial

John Mendelson^1*, Linghui Li¹, Keith Flower¹, Will Harris¹, Jeremy R Coyle¹, C Y Angie Chen¹, Wolfgang Sadee² and Gantt P Galloway¹

¹Addiction and Pharmacology Research Laboratory, California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, , San Francisco, CA, USA

²Program in Pharmacogenomics, Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210, USA

Received Date: Jan 19, 2011 / Accepted Date: Apr 14, 2011 / Published Date: Apr 20, 2011

Citation: Mendelson J, Li L, Flower K, Harris W, Coyle JR, et al. (2011) The Effects of 6?-Naltrexol, a Putative Neutral Opioid Antagonist, in Opioid-Dependent Subjects: A Proof-of-Concept Trial. J Addict Res Ther 2:108.DOI: 10.4172/2155-6105.1000108

Copyright: © 2010 Mendelson J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Potential complications of prescription opioid use include abuse and constipation. 6β-Naltrexol (6βNTX), a neutral opioid antagonist, may alleviate these complications when co-formulated with μ-opioid analgesics. In a double-blind ascending dose study, four subjects on methadone maintenance received 6βNTX (0.05, 0.15, 0.50 and 1.0 mg). 6βNTX was generally well tolerated; three of four subjects reported willingness to take higher doses. Increased gastrointestinal activity was evidenced by decreased oral-cecal transit time and prompt laxation at higher doses.

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