For treatment of methamphetamine use disorder, researchers conducted this multisite, double-blind, two-stage, placebo-controlled trial to study the use of naltrexone plus bupropion as an option. Among adults suffering from moderate or severe methamphetamine use disorder, the effectiveness as well as the safety of extended-release injectable naltrexone (380 mg every 3 weeks) plus oral extended-release bupropion (450 mg per day) was assessed. A response was the primary outcome, which was defined as at least three methamphetamine-negative urine samples out of four samples collected at the end of stage 1 or stage 2; experts documented the weighted average of the responses in the two stages. There were 403 participants enrolled in stage 1 and 225 in stage 2. In the first stage, 18 of 109 participants (16.5%) in the naltrexone–bupropion group and 10 of 294 (3.4%) in the placebo group had a response. In the second stage, 13 of 114 (11.4%) in the naltrexone–bupropion group and 2 of 111 (1.8%) in the placebo group had a response. Although a low response over a period of 12 weeks was noted in patients with methamphetamine use disorder who were treated with extended-release injectable naltrexone plus oral extended-release bupropion, but this response was nevertheless higher than that among participants who were treated with placebo. Source
