Drug may suppress HIV virus

NEW HAVEN — A medication used to treat alcohol abuse and opiate dependence may also may help suppress the virus that causes AIDS, according to a Yale School of Medicine study.

Naltrexone, sold under the brand names Revia and Vivitrol, is one of a class of drugs known as opiate antagonists, which block the effect of opioids on the brain

and reduce the desire to take opioids or alcohol, according to the website of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

In the Yale study, researchers led by Dr. Sandra Springer, an associate professor at the medical school who specializes in HIV/ AIDS and addiction, gave extended-release naltrexone or a placebo to 100 people who were both HIV positive and who had abused alcohol when they were released from state prisons, according to a press release.

Six months later, those who had taken naltrexone were more likely to have maintained or improved their suppression of the virus. The researchers concluded that naltrexone may be a benefit to treating HIV.

Springer cares for patients, including those with HIV, in the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven and Newington. The paper is published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Those who had taken naltrexone, which reduces the desire for opioids and alcohol, were more likely to have maintained or improved suppression of the HIV virus.