Taiwan and US researchers have found that a drug used to treat Alzheimer's disease is effective in reducing heroin dependency

Taiwan and US researchers have found that a drug used to treat Alzheimer's disease is effective in reducing heroin dependency, it was announced Friday.
The discovery was made by the National Cheng Kung University Hospital and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), following ten years' research, Lu Ru-band, a psychiatrist at the Cheng Kung hospital, told a news conference.
The Cheng Kung hospital and the NIH have applied for patent for their discovery in the United States and the European Union, he noted.
According to the study, memantine, which is used to treat Alzheimers, is more effective in reducing heroin dependency than methadone, a narcotic pain-reliever similar to morphine.

In many countries, methadone is used as a pain reliever or as part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programmes.In many countries, methadone is used as a pain reliever or as part of drug addiction detoxification and maintenance programmes.
'Methadone helps because a heroin addict can take one methadone pill daily instead of having to taking a heroin shot every few hours and run the risk of becoming infected with the HIV virus,' Lu said.
'But as methadone is an opium-like compound, it is using a long-action addictive drug to replace a short-action addictive drug,' he said.
To test the effect of memantine, the Cheng Kung hospital used 90 heroin addicts in a three month trial.
During he trial, they all took methadone, but 48 also took memantine, while 42 took Valium.
The study found that for those who took five milligrammes of memantine daily, their dependency on methadone ,and neuro-toxicity, fell and there was less damage to their liver function.
For those who took methadone and Valium, their neuro-toxicity increased and liver functions was affected.
'Our human trial lasted only three months. We have no plan to conduct longer trial because it is too costly,' he said.