Opiate Blocker Helps Women Stop Smoking

Opiate Blocker Helps Women Stop Smoking - CME Teaching Brief® - MedPage Today: "CHICAGO, Oct. 9 -- The opiate blocker Depade (naltrexone), when added to behavioral therapy and nicotine patches, can help women quit smoking, researchers here found. But men gained no benefit. Action Points

Explain to interested patients that Depade (naltrexone) is a non-narcotic drug that blocks the effects of opiates on reward centers in the brain. It has been used successfully to treat drug and alcohol addiction, and in this study helped women quit smoking in equal numbers to men, with little associated weight gain.
In an ongoing clinical trial, Depade plus other smoking-cessation tools increased the quit rate among women by nearly 50%, and reduced the typical weight gain during the first month after quitting, reported Andrea King, Ph.D., of the University of Chicago, and colleagues, in the October issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research"