Briefly, because we now have a situation that can be described as a Mexican stand off!
The drug Naltrexone was first discovered in about 1965.
What normally happens, when a new drug is discovered, is that one of the pharmaceutical companies takes out patents on it, then pays to have it tested extensively – which can involve millions and millions of dollars – to the point where it gets approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, in the US, (the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the TGA, is the Australian equivalent,) for the treatment of certain medical conditions, and with the patents it’s taken out, the pharmaceutical company concerned can have a monopoly on the drug’s production and sale for 20 years. This happened with Naltrexone – it eventually received FDA approval for the treatment of certain addictions.
But what makes the Low Dose Naltrexone story unique is that it was only after about 1985, when all the patents on Naltrexone had expired, that it started to be discovered that taking Naltrexone in low doses, (there’s actually no such thing as Low Dose Naltrexone – the term refers to taking Naltrexone in low doses,) was extraordinarily effective in treating a whole range of medical problems, (about which more, later,) to the point where it’s been described as the fifth great medical discovery in the history of mankind, and perhaps the greatest.
So why is it not more widely known, advised on and prescribed?
Because, as we’ve said, we now have a situation that can be described as a Mexican stand off!
The FDA is not prepared to grant it’s approval unless the money is outlaid, perhaps millions and millions of dollars, to have Low Dose Naltrexone tested; the pharmaceutical companies are not prepared to outlay any money unless they can get patents, which they can no longer get because all the patents on Naltrexone have expired; and doctors and other health care workers are reluctant to prescribe medications that don’t have FDA/TGA approval.
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