Low dose naltrexone in multiple sclerosis: Effects on medication use. A quasi-experimental study

PloS One
Guttorm Raknes, Lars Småbrekke

Abstract

Low dose naltrexone (LDN) has become a popular off-label therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS). A few small, randomized studies indicate that LDN may have beneficial effects in MS and other autoimmune diseases. If proven efficacious, it would be a cheap and safe alternative to the expensive treatments currently recommended for MS. We investigated whether a sudden increase in LDN use in Norway in 2013 was followed by changes in dispensing of other medications used to treat MS. We performed a quasi-experimental before-and-after study based on population data from the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD). We included all patients that collected at least one LDN prescription in 2013, and had collected at least two medications with a reimbursement code for MS, or collected a medication with MS as the only indication in 2009 or 2010. Outcomes were differences in cumulative dispensed doses and incidence of users of disease modifying MS therapies, and medications used to treat MS symptoms two years before and two years after dispensing the initial LDN prescription. The eligible 341 patients collected 20 921 prescriptions in the observation period. Apart from changes in line with general trends in MS therapy in Norway, there was no dif...Continue Reading

References

Feb 8, 2005·Medical Hypotheses·Y P Agrawal
Dec 2, 2008·Medical Hypotheses·Norman Brown, Jaak Panksepp
May 21, 2010·Current Pharmaceutical Design·James C Garbutt
Jun 11, 2010·Multiple Sclerosis : Clinical and Laboratory Research·Naser SharafaddinzadehBita Shalbafan
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Jun 14, 2017·Multiple Sclerosis Journal - Experimental, Translational and Clinical·Michael D LudwigPatricia J McLaughlin

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Citations

Dec 14, 2018·Experimental Biology and Medicine·Ian S Zagon, Patricia J McLaughlin
Sep 27, 2018·Medical Sciences : Open Access Journal·Karlo Toljan, Bruce Vrooman
Dec 6, 2019·Peptides·Richard J Bodnar
Aug 25, 2021·International Immunopharmacology·Hai HuangFengping Shan

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