St. Vincent Charity Hospital Offers Breakthrough Drug to Combat Opiate Addictions

New Drug Expands Options, Offers Flexibility

(Editor's note: Dr. Christopher Adelman and one of his patients are available for media interviews)

Cleveland, OH (May 2003) — St. Vincent Charity Hospital's Rosary Hall recently became one of only a few substance abuse treatment facilities in Ohio to offer the first medication for treating opiate addictions that is available by prescription in an office-based setting. Physicians must undergo eight hours of training and receive government authorization to prescribe the drug; therefore, very few physicians in the United States can prescribe it.

The drug, buprenorphine — commercially sold by Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare under the trade name Suboxone — received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in October 2002. Suboxone consists of a combination of two drugs: buprenorphine — proven to reduce withdrawal symptoms and block the effects of subsequently administered opiates — and naloxone — an agent which produces intense withdrawal symptoms if patients attempt to use Suboxone intravenously.

The most effective traditional treatment for opiate addiction is methadone— a synthetic opiate medication that blocks the effects of heroin for about 24 hours. Treatment requires daily visits to a clinic, due to the drug's high potential for abuse. When regularly administered, methadone is effective. However, missing one dosage of methadone can produce withdrawal symptoms so severe that patients may relapse.

More than 1 million people in the United States are dependent on opiates — including heroin, morphine and prescription painkillers, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Only about 200,000 of opiate-dependent individuals are getting treatment in licensed methadone clinics, partly because of limited access to treatment centers. In fact, only nine percent (1,215) of treatment facilities reported in 2000 that they dispense methadone, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

"Buprenorphine therapy opens the door for many who, until now, had little or no treatment options," said Christopher Adelman, M.D., medical director of Rosary Hall at St. Vincent Charity Hospital and one of 24 physicians in Ohio who is licensed to prescribe Suboxone. Adelman, who currently is treating six patients with the drug, says that, so far, patients are responding favorably to Suboxone treatment.

In 2000, heroin and other opiates were the leading illicit drugs responsible for treatment admissions, accounting for 17 percent of the approximately 1.6 million admissions to publicly funded substance abuse treatment facilities in the United States, according to SAMHSA.

"With this breakthrough medicine, hopefully more people will seek treatment and successfully overcome this terrible addiction," Adelman said.

Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare's involvement in prescription drugs is a legacy of Reckitt & Colman's involvement in basic new chemical entity research in the 1960's and 1970's. Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare now focuses mainly on Over-the-Counter medicines such as Gaviscon, Lemsip, Disprin, Senokot and Fybogel.

Reckitt Benckiser plc is the world's largest household cleaning product company (excluding laundry detergent) with net revenues in 2001 of $3.4bn ($5.25bn) and net income of £340m ($525m). The COmpany has many world leading positions including in disinfecting cleaning (Lysol, Dettol), Automatic Dishwashing (Finish, Electrasol, Jet Dry), Fabric Treatment (Vanish, Spray 'nWash), Fine Fabric (Woolite) and Depilatories (Veet) and is a major player in Air Care (Air Wick, Wizard). Reckitt Benckiser operates in some 60 countries, has sales in some 180 countries and is headquartered in the UK. Reckitt Benckiser plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.