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Genetic help for addicts
January 23, 2007 12:00am
THE success of methadone treatment could skyrocket after Australian scientists uncovered the genetic key to stop heroin addicts slipping off the drug substitute.
A team from the University of Adelaide has found a gene that controls how quickly the drug replacement is transported around the body.
By testing heroin addicts, they discovered that people with a mutation of the gene -- about 25 per cent of the population -- can cope on lower doses of methadone.
But the majority without the mutation process methadone faster and need almost double the amount to stave off heroin withdrawal.
The research is the first to investigate the problem of inaccurate dosing, which sees almost two out of every three methadone users drop out of programs prematurely.
Most fail in the first four weeks of the treatment, when the withdrawal effects are most severe.
"It's entirely possible the people who are failing are doing so because their genotype is such that they need more methadone than they're getting," says Dr Janet Coller, pharmacologist and lead researcher of the study.
The study appears in the Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics journal.
Herald Sun