2005-26

Montreal, June 6, 2005. - The CHUM (Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal), in collaboration with CRAN (Centre de recherche et d'aide pour narcomanes), will soon launch the NAOMI project-a Canadian study that will test whether medically prescribed heroin will keep street-heroin users in treatment programs.

NAOMI, the acronym for North American Opiate Medication Initiative, is a randomized clinical trial targeting opiate-dependent users who have not benefited from conventional treatment programs. Directing the project is Dr. Martin Schechter, of the University of British Columbia's Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences. Drs. Suzanne Brissette and Pierre Lauzon of CHUM and Serge Brochu, Ph.D., a researcher at the Centre international de criminologie comparée at Université de Montréal, are heading the project's Montreal component.

The entire study will be conducted in three Canadian cities: Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, and will reach 470 subjects. These will be assigned randomly to one of two groups: the first will receive treatment consisting of injectable, pharmaceutical-grade opiates, while the other will receive oral methadone. The study aims to compare treatment retention in the group receiving injectable heroin with that of the group receiving conventional methadone therapy. The study will also enable researchers to measure the impact of these two types of intervention on illicit drug consumption, participation in criminal activity, health status and various other biopsychosocial dimensions of participants' lives.

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is funding this study with a grant totalling $8.1 million, and the trial has been approved by Health Canada. 160 subjects will be enrolled in the Montreal area over the next few weeks following rigorous screening. "Participants must meet eligibility criteria, including a medical assessment," states Dr. Suzanne Brissette, a specialist on drug dependence at CHUM's Hôpital Saint-Luc.

"NAOMI is a carefully controlled medical study that aims to increase our knowledge of mental and addictive disorders," says Dr. Rémi Quirion, Scientific Director of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA) of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. "The importance of this research lies in lessening the suffering caused by these disorders and ensuring the trial results are translated into a better quality of life for all Canadians-a key priority for CIHR."

Once enrolled, all participants will benefit from clinical services provided by physicians, nurses and psychosocial workers. "Treatment will span one year, and will be followed by a transitional three-month period allowing participants to be referred to the best available treatment once their participation in the study ends," says Dr. Brissette. A research team will be responsible for following up participants over a two-year period, to collect data that will enable researchers to measure the impact of the various types of therapy.

Subjects who will be prescribed heroin will visit the clinic up to three times daily to receive medication. In Montreal, the clinic will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week, 365 days a year. An on-site medical team will ensure that subjects coming to the clinic are physically fit enough to receive medication safely.

Participants in the methadone group will receive their medication from the network of community pharmacies. They will nonetheless be required to come to the clinic each month to meet with the medical team and other health professionals.

These visits will allow researchers to gather data on the subjects' health, inform them on high-risk behaviours, and propose follow-up avenues for any problems identified: this can go so far as meeting immediate emergency needs.

Those in charge of the Montreal project, as in the other participating cities, are backed up by an advisory board consisting of individuals from various walks of life (users, police officers, public decision makers, researchers, ethics specialists, community groups, professionals and community business people, as well as elected officials from all three government levels) and who are mandated to advise the research team on implementing the project within the community. This Board has met approximately twice yearly for the past five years.

Lastly, the personnel in charge of the Vancouver project began treatment with their first subjects in early March of this year.

FOR THE CHUM

The Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) is a university hospital centre that provides specialized and ultraspecialized services to a regional and supraregional clientele. CHUM also offers general and specialized hospital services for its immediate service area. These services, which contribute to teaching and research and to the evaluation of health-care technologies and intervention methods, are provided on an integrated network basis. CHUM also contributes to the ongoing promotion of health through its front-line services.

CHUM was formed with the merger of three Montreal hospitals: Hôtel-Dieu, Notre-Dame and Saint-Luc. CHUM's 10,000 employees, 900 doctors, 350 researchers, 5,000 students and trainees and 800 volunteers serve more than half a million patients every year. www.chumontreal.qc.ca/

FOR THE CIHR

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is the Government of Canada's agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 9,000 researchers and trainees, and research teams in every province of Canada. http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/

FOR THE CRAN
The Centre de recherche et d'aide pour narcomanes (CRAN) is a non-governmental organization which provides medical and psychosocial clinical services to heroin addicts and other opiate-dependent individuals.

The center's primary goals are to improve quality of life for injection drug users and to reduce high risk or criminal behaviours linked to heroin and opiate abuse by providing access to methadone maintenance treatment and other replacement therapies.

As a research centre, we develop and participate in research projects connected to our mission and activities, and offer internships for medical residents as well as for health and social work professionals.

Through our methadone support service for professionals, SAM (Service d'Appui Méthadone), and our counselling and training services, CRAN promotes and supports the development of a methadone network in Quebec, with the help of our partners in the healthcare and social network in Montreal and the regions. www.cran.qc.ca/

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For Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal
Dr. Suzanne Brissette

For CRAN
Dr. Pierre Lauzon
Sylvie DesRoches

For information:

Janet Weichel McKenzie
CIHR Communications
(613) 941-4563 (613) 447-4794 (cell)

Lise Provost, B.Sc., M.Ed.
Senior External Communications Advisor,
Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)
(514) 890-8000, extension 15380
pager (514) 860-7110