Marketing hype or a miracle cure?

[note to LifeLube readers... as you know, we have been sharing coverage of the controversial, expensive, and evidence-free Prometa treatment protocol for crystal methamphetamine addiction because the company has been targetting gay men in its aggressive marketing. the Chicago Tribune story below is the first of its kind from a major news outlet, and we couldn't be more delighted. Tonight, 60 Minutes is also doing a story on Prometa - we will be on our couch ready to go for that one and expect a nice, critical piece. see previous post for more on that... we want more effective treatments for meth addiction as much as anyone - but ones that are PROVEN, thank you very much, before we plunk down 15 grand.]

Costly treatment for drug addiction
spurs heated debate

By Deborah L. Shelton
Tribune staff reporter
December 9, 2007

A costly drug cocktail touted as the first pharmacological treatment for cocaine and methamphetamine addiction is at the center of a raging national debate.

The treatment, called Prometa, is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an addiction therapy, nor has it undergone extensive scientific testing. But officials at Los Angeles-based Hythiam Inc., the company that sells the treatment protocol, say it can work miracles for people struggling to break their addiction.

David Smart turned to Prometa when he hit rock bottom eight months ago. Smart had lost everything -- his wife, his family, his job and his home. By his own estimate, he had failed at least two dozen times to overcome his meth addiction.

"I had tried everything and nothing worked for me," said Smart, 41, of suburban Tacoma, Wash. "But Prometa has."

Mario Acosta Jr. also tried Prometa but relapsed within days of completing treatment.

"They told me it would work for everything," said Acosta, 44, a longshoreman in San Pedro, Calif., who was battling alcoholism and heroin addiction.

He took out a $5,000 loan to help pay for it. "What a waste of money that was," he said.

As many as 3,000 people have tried Prometa, up from about 1,000 a year ago, a Hythiam spokesman said. Prometa was first offered in 2003 as the HANDS Protocols.

More than 70 physicians nationwide have been licensed by the company to treat patients. Hythiam promotes Prometa as a 30-day outpatient treatment for addiction to alcohol, cocaine, heroin and meth, also known as crystal meth.

Doctor: 'Marketing scheme'

But some treatment professionals say the company rushed to treat patients with Prometa before it had undergone greater scrutiny.

"I don't think Prometa is a drug treatment for addiction; I think it's a marketing scheme," said Dr. Alex Stalcup, a California-based expert on methamphetamine addiction.

Some addiction experts said the treatment is reminiscent of controversial methods promoted in the past.

"There is an attempt to create hype before there is actual evidence, make a buck and move on," said Chicago addiction specialist Dr. David Ostrow, who attended a meeting here organized by Hythiam last month. "These kinds of treatments have come and gone like garden weeds in the field of addiction."

Hythiam officials said the company's attention-grabbing marketing shouldn't be confused with its treatment."People are dying [from drug abuse], and this [treatment] seems to be making a dramatic difference," said Dr. Matthew Torrington, medical director of the Prometa Center in Santa Monica, Calif., one of four such treatment centers.

Jim Pickett, chairman of the Chicago Crystal Meth Task Force, says Hythiam is pushing an untested treatment on people when they are at their lowest point. His outrage grew after he saw a full-page ad for Prometa in Gay Chicago Magazine.

"They are preying on vulnerable people," Pickett said. "People in the throes of crystal meth addiction -- and their families -- are extremely vulnerable, and they are taking advantage of it."

Natalie Bauer, a spokeswoman for Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, said the office has seen a rising number of questionable claims of successful treatments for meth addiction.

"Atty. Gen. Madigan shares the concern expressed by treatment professionals and Chicago Crystal Meth Task Force members that Hythiam has undertaken an aggressive marketing campaign on behalf of Prometa without first showing that Prometa is an effective treatment for addiction to methamphetamine or other substances," Bauer said.

Read the rest here.

Read more LifeLube posts on Prometa here.