METHOD FOR NORIBOGAINE TREATMENT IN PATIENTS ON METHADONE

摘要

A short treatment with noribogaine shows promise for treating drug dependency. Many opioid addicts are treated with methadone. Giving noribogaine to mammal concurrently being administered methadone surprisingly exacerbates methadone's negative side-effects, and increases the risk of death. Therefore, prior to noribogaine treatment, a patient on methadone therapy undergoes a period of methadone abstinence to wash out the methadone. Surprisingly, noribogaine does not react negatively to morphine. According to the invention, methadone regimen is replaced with morphine prior to noribogaine treatment.

主权项

1. A method for treating addiction in a patient being administered methadone, the method comprising: (a) replacing methadone administration with a noribogaine-compatible opioid or derivative thereof for a period of time until the serum level of methadone is reduced to a level that is safe to administer noribogaine; and (b) administering a unit dose of noribogaine or a noribogaine derivative to the patient, wherein the unit dose provides an average serum concentration of 50 ng/mL to 180 ng/mL, said concentration being sufficient to inhibit or ameliorate said addiction while maintaining a QT interval of less than about 500 ms during said treatment.