JOURNAL ARTICLE
REVIEW
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Pharmacotherapeutic strategies for methamphetamine use disorder: mind the subgroups.

Introduction : Drug use related deaths are increasing and the lack of effective treatment for psychostimulants can be largely held responsible. Particularly, no pharmacotherapy is approved for methamphetamine (METH) use disorder despite decades of research. Only psychosocial interventions are clinically used, with limited long-term recovery and relapse. Areas covered : This review aims to select and describe the most relevant findings to date. Selected clinical trials were found in PubMed using the following keywords ('methamphetamine') and ('addiction' OR 'withdrawal' OR 'treatment' OR 'pharmacotherapy'). Randomized placebo-controlled trials enrolling treatment-seeking METH-dependent subjects and inherent secondary analysis were included. Expert opinion : Overall, end-of-treatment abstinence, reduced METH use or lower relapse rates were seen on METH dependent subgroups or attained significance only following post hoc analysis, irrespective of the medication tested. For example, light and heavy METH users seem to respond differently to pharmacotherapy. This together with the heterogeneous nature of the METH dependent population strongly suggests that some drugs herein described (e.g. mirtazapine, methylphenidate) should be further tested in clinical trials focused on subgroups. Lastly, objective measures, such as urinalysis, are mandatory to include in clinical trials and early treatment response and/or medication compliance should be carefully monitored and considered as predictors of success/failure.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app