Naltrexone

History

Naltrexone was originally synthesised by Endo Laboratories (New York) in 1963 and a US patent was granted in 1967. The company had previously developed naloxone, but due to being a small firm was limited in its distribution and so did not market naltrexone. When Endo was bought out by the much larger DuPont Pharmaceuticals in 1969, there seemed little prospect of it being continued, but President Nixon’s ‘War on Drugs’ and the 1972 Drug Abuse Office and Treatment Act made naltrexone a viable commercial product. It subsequently entered clinical trials for heroin addiction treatment in 1973, and despite early setbacks was finally marketed under the brand name ‘Trexan’ in 1984.