Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutic Use of the Narcotic Antagonist: Naltrexone

Abstract

Due to the chemical complexity of the human organism it is difficult to imagine that any one chemical agent would produce a single pharmacological effect. The “magic bullet” theory, envisioned by Paul Erlich around the turn of the century, postulated that after drug administration the drug is absorbed, transported by the blood to its site of action, performs the desired pharmacological action without effecting other cells or organs and then excreted. It was soon discovered that such selective chemicals were nonexistent. After searching for decades, scientists had to be satisfied by finding chemicals with the minimal number and least severe side effects. Interestingly, naltrexone seems to be close to the description of the “magic bullet.”