Currently, the prescription medication naltrexone is commercially available for the treatment of alcohol dependence under the brand name Vivitrol by Alkermes since it gained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2006. After considering Alkermes’ supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA), submitted earlier this year, that showed extensive evidence of the alcohol-dependency treatment medication’s positive effects on opioid addiction, the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee has now recommended the commercial use of naltrexone for the treatment of opioid dependency. The opioid-blocking, extended-release injectable suspension may become the first non-addictive, non-narcotic drug agent available in a monthly prescription come October.
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