Implants are pharmaceutical devices inserted under the skin that gradually release a medication over time. The medication is naltrexone. It blocks the effects of heroin and other opiates. It attaches to the brain where the opiates attach, blocking them so they don’t cause euphoria. If heroin is used, it passes out of the body with no apparent effect. There is no incentive to continue using the drug.
The implants have been used as an alternative to incarceration. It enables jails and treatment centers to send patients out with more than an admonishment not to use drugs. It offers the possibility of long term recovery. Naltrexone can protect people while they build a foundation in twelve-step recovery, which teaches them how to live a life without drugs.
A short acting form of the drug, in pill form, has been available for many years. Its safety and effectiveness has been approved by the FDA. However, compliance has always been a problem with the pills. People addicted to drugs simply don’t take the medication every day. It is felt that dosing every several months will result in better compliance than daily dosing. Approval is being sought for the long acting pellet implant. In the meantime the implants will be available from doctors who have been licensed to make them by Pellet Technologies, L.L.C. The doctors can then implant them in the patients they feel will benefit from the naltrexone.
The implants have been placed in thousands of patients in the United States and many foreign countries. It involves a simple procedure under a local anesthetic that just takes a few minutes.