{"entity":{"id":"low-dose-naltrexone","kind":"technology","name":"Low-dose naltrexone","aka":["LDN","Low dose naltrexone"],"tldr":"Low-dose naltrexone is a small dose of an old addiction medicine, prescribed off-label and promoted online as a cheap cancer treatment. It has some small trials in fibromyalgia and Crohn's disease, but the claims for cancer have never been tested in a clinical trial.","summary":"Naltrexone is an opioid antagonist approved in the 1980s for opioid and alcohol dependence. At doses far below the licensed one it is prescribed off-label for many conditions. Memorial Sloan Kettering's About Herbs summary reports small placebo-controlled trials suggesting benefit in fibromyalgia, pilot randomised trials in Crohn's disease, a comparison in diabetic neuropathy, and equivocal results in multiple sclerosis; it states plainly that anecdotal claims of efficacy for cancer have not been examined in clinical trials. Low-dose naltrexone is generally well tolerated in small studies, with diarrhoea, nausea, headache and altered mood reported. The practical hazard for people with cancer is opioids: naltrexone blocks opioid receptors, and the contraindications MSK lists for standard-dose naltrexone include anyone receiving opioid painkillers, whose effect it opposes. MSK also notes preclinical data that naltrexone interacts with several liver enzymes involved in chemotherapy metabolism, of unknown clinical relevance. Anyone considering it should tell both the oncology and palliative care teams.","status":"concept","asOf":"2026-11-04","links":[{"label":"MSK About Herbs: Low-dose naltrexone (page last updated 13 April 2022)","url":"https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/low-dose-naltrexone"}],"tags":["complementary","supportive-care","evidence:insufficient"],"related":["insulin-potentiation-therapy","kratom"],"cancers":[],"sections":["supportive-care"],"technologies":["integrative-oncology","pain-management"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["unproven-diet-claims"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-misinformation"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Brief opioid-receptor blockade is proposed to cause a rebound rise in endorphins and to modulate immune cells through opioid growth factor signalling; neither mechanism has been tested as a cancer treatment in people.","strengths":["Cheap and generally well tolerated in small studies","Some trial evidence outside cancer"],"limitations":["No clinical trial for cancer","Blocks opioid painkillers","Possible enzyme interactions with chemotherapy"]},"route":"/technologies/low-dose-naltrexone/","neighbours":{"technology":[{"id":"pain-management","kind":"technology","name":"Cancer pain management","route":"/technologies/pain-management/"},{"id":"integrative-oncology","kind":"technology","name":"Evidence-based integrative oncology","route":"/technologies/integrative-oncology/"},{"id":"insulin-potentiation-therapy","kind":"technology","name":"Insulin potentiation therapy","route":"/technologies/insulin-potentiation-therapy/"},{"id":"kratom","kind":"technology","name":"Kratom","route":"/technologies/kratom/"}],"section":[{"id":"supportive-care","kind":"section","name":"Supportive Care & Survivorship","route":"/fronts/supportive-care/"}],"term":[{"id":"unproven-diet-claims","kind":"term","name":"Unproven diet claims (alkaline, juice, 'anti-cancer' diets)","route":"/terms/unproven-diet-claims/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-misinformation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Misinformation and unproven therapies","route":"/bottlenecks/b-misinformation/"}]}}