Combination pharmacotherapies for stimulant use disorder: a review of clinical findings and recommendations for future research.
Despite concerted efforts to identify a pharmacotherapy for managing stimulant use disorders, no widely effective medications have been approved. Innovative strategies are necessary to develop successful pharmacotherapies for stimulant use disorders. This manuscript reviews human laboratory studies and clinical trials to determine whether one such strategy, use of combination pharmacotherapies, holds promise. The extant literature shows that combination pharmacotherapy produced results that were better than placebo treatment, especially with medications shown to have efficacy as monotherapies. However, many studies did not compare individual constituents to the combination treatment, making it impossible to determine whether combination treatment is more effective than monotherapy. Future research should systematically compare combined treatments with individual agents using medications showing some efficacy when tested alone.
Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky, College of Medicine, Medical Behavioral Science Building, Lexington, KY 40536, USA.
William W
WW
Stoops
Craig R
CR
Rush
D019969:Amphetamine-Related Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants