On April 13, Cephalon won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Vivitrol drug, a once-monthly injection for alcohol dependence co-developed with Alkermes.

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In September, Hythiam received a patent in Mexico for its cocaine addiction treatment product and was granted a patent from the Europe Patent Office for its alcohol dependence product.

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Alkermes is starting late-stage clinical trials of Vivitrex, an injectable form of naltroxene--an FDA-approved drug for the treatment of opiate and alcohol dependence, and it has several other drugs in development.

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How well physicians did for any particular condition varied substantially, ranging from about 79 percent of recommended care delivered for early-stage cataracts to about 11 percent of recommended care for alcohol dependence.

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It turns out that the more family members you have who have been found to have major depression, anxiety disorders, or drug or alcohol dependence, the greater the chances that you will too, according to Terrie E.

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The researchers found that the more relatives a person had with major depression, anxiety disorder, or alcohol or drug dependence, the more likely he or she was to have that condition too.

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But psychiatry as a field has been skeptical of the idea of people being addicted to behaviors, because there is not proof that a bad habit is the same kind of biological issue as a dependence on alcohol, nicotine, or heroin.

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While most binge drinkers are not alcohol-dependent, it can also lead to dependence.

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