25 years of studies on the efficacy and safety of different formulations of naltrexone for the opioid use disorder treatment

The article overviews the results of the studies of different formulations of opioid antagonist naltrexone (oral, injectable and implantable) for stabilization of remission and relapse prevention in patients with opioid dependence conducted by authors during the last twenty five years. Based on the results of these studies, long-acting sustained release formulations of naltrexone (injectable and implantable) are more effective than oral formulation and may solve the problem of poor adherence to oral naltrexone. Naltrexone implant is more effective that oral formulation for both relapse prevention and improving adherence to antiretroviral therapy in patients with opioid dependence. Depot formulations of naltrexone are effective, well tolerated and open a new perspective for the treatment of opioid dependence.