Researchers have found a medication regime that's proven helpful for some patients with meth addiction in a large, placebo-controlled trial.
"It's indicated that there may be some hope on the horizon for the development of medication to treat methamphetamine disorder," said Dr Gavin Bart, the Director of the Division of Addiction Medicine at Hennepin Healthcare and Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
He said researchers found a combination therapy involving an injectable medication called extended-release naltrexone and a daily generic pill called bupropion, that together caused cravings to decrease.
This new medical treatment is coming at a time when addiction to methamphetamines is on the rise, due in part by cheap imports from Mexico.
"Rural areas are impacted more but it's an equal opportunity problem," Bart said. "One of the reasons we may not have heard much about it, is because not a lot of people die of meth overdose."
The study was led University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. All participants were outpatients seeking to get their addiction under control at one of several treatment clinics across the country.