What the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Clinical Trials Network can do for you? Major findings from medication trials and implications for community-based settings.

The focus of this presentation is on the outcomes of medication studies in the CTN and how those outcomes can be applied to treatment in community-based settings. Medication studies in the CTN have included four studies on opioid dependence (buprenorphine vs. clonidine, buprenorphine taper, buprenorphine for adolescents, and the Prescription Opioid Addiction Treatment Study) and two studies on methylphenidate (methylphenidate for smokers with ADHD and methylphenidate for adolescents with ADHD and substance use disorder). Outcomes from each trial are presented, along with implications for community-based treatment providers. Overall, these protocols have demonstrated that medication studies — both straight-forward studies and highly complex ones — can be conducted safely and effectively in community drug abuse treatment programs. Staff members in these programs can be highly enthusiastic about the new therapies, something that aids in implementation, and evidence supports the fact that successful medication trials can lead to increased use of empirically validated pharmacotherapies.

The presentation ends with a look at ongoing and future medication research in the CTN, including buprenorphine for cocaine dependence, long-acting injectable naltrexone for opioid dependence, bupropion for smokers with stimulant dependence, buspirone for cocaine dependence, and treatments for cannabis dependence.

Related protocols: CTN-0001, CTN-0002, CTN-0003, CTN-0009, CTN-0010, CTN-0028, CTN-0030