Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27401883›Full record

ReviewCNS drugs2016

Naltrexone: A Pan-Addiction Treatment?

Elias Aboujaoude, Wael O Salame

Registry-linked trialAbstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in CNS drugs, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07641283 (A Randomized, Double-Blinded Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Naltrexone in Improving Nonsuicidal Self-Injurious Behavior), which is not on this map. Cited by 28 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
10.3field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT07641283 nanot yet recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2026, after this paper: background citation

A Randomized, Double-Blinded Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Naltrexone in Improving Nonsuicidal Self-Injurious Behavior

TypeinterventionalSponsorSeoul National University HospitalRan2026 to 2028Enrolled150ConditionsNonsuicidal Self-Injury, Self-Injurious BehaviorArmsNaltrexone 50mg (Whanin Naltrexone Tab. 50mg), Placebo
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Bupropion and Naltrexone in Methamphetamine Use Disorder.The New England journal of medicine · 2021
    Trial
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Review
  16. Managing Pain in the Setting of Opioid Use Disorder.Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses · 2020
    Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Opioid receptors: drivers to addiction?Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2018
    Review
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Elias AboujaoudeDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA. eaboujaoude@stanford.edu.
Wael O SalameGilbert and Rose Marie Chagouri School of Medicine, Byblos, Lebanon.
Stanford University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Addiction is a major public health problem with few efficacious and safe treatments. The goal of this review is to provide an evidence-based assessment of the therapeutic role of the opioid antagonist naltrexone across the addiction spectrum-substance-based and behavioral. The PubMed database was searched for randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials that investigated the oral or intramuscular long-acting formulation of naltrexone in substance use disorders or behavioral addictions such as pathological gambling, kleptomania, and trichotillomania. Thirty-nine efficacy studies were retrieved, covering alcohol use disorder (n = 22), opioid use disorder (n = 6), nicotine use disorder (n = 5), stimulant use disorder (n = 2), gambling disorder (n = 2), trichotillomania (n = 1), and kleptomania (n = 1). Despite the very different presentations within and between both addiction categories, the data, as a whole, show consistency in favor of naltrexone's relative efficacy and safety. Given the potential benefit and good tolerability revealed in the studies, the high morbidity associated with addiction, and the dearth of alternate treatments, naltrexone would seem like an underutilized treatment option. Further, naltrexone's seemingly broad anti-addiction efficacy supports a shared role for brain opioid pathways in the pathophysiology of addiction, broadly defined. More studies investigating the efficacy and tolerability of naltrexone and other opioid modulators are warranted. Studies should also further examine the effect of combining psychotherapy with naltrexone, as well as the potential role of naltrexone in treating comorbid addictions.

Indexed as

AnimalsBehavior, AddictiveEvidence-Based MedicineHumansNaltrexoneNarcotic AntagonistsPsychotherapyRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicSubstance-Related DisordersNaltrexoneNarcotic Antagonists

Identifiers

PMID27401883
OpenAlexW2461373514

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.