Could gout medication be used to treat opioid withdrawal? Alberta researchers begin clinical trials

A team of Alberta researchers is looking into whether a gout medication could help patients taper off opioids.At the University of Calgary, Dr. Lori Montgomery and Tuan Trang are recruiting participants for clinical trials to find out how effective probenecid, a drug designed to treat gout and gouty arthritis, can be at treating symptoms of opioid withdrawal.“I don’t think I’ve had a day in clinic in the last five years where I haven’t had a patient tell me they want to reduce the opioids they are taking,” Dr. Montgomery said in a news release. “The problem is there are limited options to support them, and the withdrawal symptoms can be crippling.”Probenecid has shown some promise as an opioid withdrawal treatment in some of Trang’s previous research. In 2017, a study led by Trang’s team published in Nature Medicine found that probenecid was effective at reducing opioid withdrawal in rodent. last month, Trang’s team published another study in Nature Communications showing how probenecid disrupts the abnormal brain-spinal cord communication that occurs during opioid withdrawal.“The area of the brain that is sending the signal regulates the autonomic system, our fight-or-flight response,” he said in a news release. “During withdrawal that centre in the brain is hyperactive, contributing to the body’s reaction during withdrawal.”As part of their 12-week randomized control trial, the researchers are recruiting individuals 18 years of age and over who want to taper or stop taking opioids.“Probenecid has not been tested for opioid withdrawal before, but we know it is a safe and well tolerated drug. Headache and nausea are the most common side-effects, which can be addressed,” Dr. Montgomery said. “We start with doses that are lower than what has been used for gout, if the person is tolerating the drug well, we start to taper the opioids they are taking and measure whether they experience withdrawal.”Anyone interested in participating in the trial can contact Tammy Eberle, the research coordinator, at tammy.eberle@ahs.ca.

Could gout medication be used to treat opioid withdrawal? Alberta researchers begin clinical trials

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