• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Addiction Medicine Pioneer, Dr. David Smith, to Lead Hythiam-Managed, State-of-the-Art Outpatient Addiction Treatment Center That Will Offer PROMETA(TM) Protocols in Los Angeles

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 December 2005, 09:00 CST

UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Program Fellow, Dr. Matthew Torrington, Will Serve as Medical Director

Hythiam, Inc. (Nasdaq:HYTM) announced today that renowned addiction medicine specialists David Smith, MD and Matthew Torrington, MD have opened a new medical practice that will operate in a state-of-the-art outpatient facility in Los Angeles, Calif., managed by Hythiam. The PROMETA Center(TM) is named for Hythiam's innovative PROMETA treatment protocols that seek to address neurochemical imbalances in the brain caused or worsened by substance dependence.

Under the terms of a full service management agreement, Hythiam will manage this medical practice in exchange for management and licensing fees. The 4,000 plus square foot PROMETA center is designed with the capacity to accommodate up to 2,000 outpatient PROMETA procedures on an annual basis. The practice will have a primary focus on using the PROMETA protocols for dependencies on alcohol, cocaine and methamphetamines but will also offer medical interventions for other substance dependencies.

"Under the guidance of our own Dr. David Smith, the PROMETA Center will be the flagship location for creating and expanding awareness of our protocols in the key metropolitan service area of Los Angeles," said Terren S. Peizer, Chairman and CEO of Hythiam. "By establishing a brand identity around this discreet, high-end medical destination for addiction treatment, we hope to do our part to lessen the stigma that surrounds those who are afflicted with this disease. The added advantage that PROMETA is offered on an outpatient basis should encourage busy professionals to seek treatment."

Peizer continued, "With the opening of this center, we are in position to begin an aggressive marketing campaign for Los Angeles and the Southern California region beginning in the first quarter of 2006. Once our campaign gains momentum, the PROMETA Center and all Southern California licensees should benefit from the heightened visibility, resulting in increased patient volumes and inquiries from referral sources. Furthermore, any press or media exposure received by the PROMETA Center will create name recognition for our protocols, thereby benefiting PROMETA licensees throughout the country."

Dr. Smith, the owner and managing director for the PROMETA Center, Inc., and Dr. Torrington, medical director, will direct the practice. The PROMETA Center is the first flagship location solely dedicated to the treatment of alcohol, cocaine and methamphetamine dependencies with the PROMETA protocols. Clinical knowledge of PROMETA gathered by the physicians of the Center will be available to current and potential licensees allowing parties to witness the PROMETA treatment paradigm. Additionally, the Center will offer buprenorphine therapy for the treatment of opiate dependence.

"Our knowledge about the pathophysiology of addictive disorders is growing at a rapid rate," said Dr. David Smith. "New treatments, such as PROMETA for alcoholism and stimulant dependence and buprenorphine therapy for opiate dependence, are revolutionizing the way the disease of addiction is treated. We are on the cusp of this major paradigm shift, and I am looking forward to collaborating with doctors to share best practices for using medical interventions and pharmacotherapy for the treatment of addiction. The PROMETA Center will allow us to continue to integrate the newest medical interventions with state-of-the-art behavioral, environmental and cognitive after-care solutions that seek to provide patients the chance of sustained recovery from addiction."

"I have personally observed PROMETA's effects in combating my patients' cravings. We seek to enable patients to enter recovery without having to battle constant cravings and anxiety," said Dr. Torrington. "PROMETA has allowed me to treat many individuals who would, in my experience, otherwise not even have made it past the acute withdrawal phase, much less into the recovery phase. With PROMETA as a tool, a physician can more rapidly address the psychological and physiological co-morbidities that underlie this complex disease."

Dr. Smith's current appointments include Medical Consultant to The Betty Ford Center, Medical Director of the California State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, Medical Director of the California Collaborative Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research, Adjunct Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, Fellow and Past President of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and of the California Society of Addiction Medicine, and Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs for Hythiam, Inc.

Dr. Smith is also the Founder and Publisher of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs and the co-editor of the International Addiction Infoline newsletter. In addition, he has authored or co-authored 26 books, written over 340 journal articles, edited 28 journals and been the technical consultant for 28 drug abuse-related films.

Dr. Matthew Torrington is an addiction medicine physician and clinical research physician. He completed a two year fellowship with the Integrated Substance Abuse Programs (ISAP) at UCLA, one of the foremost substance abuse research groups in the U.S. and worldwide. Dr. Torrington maintains a private practice specializing in patients with substance use disorders and is a medical director of the Matrix Institute's treatment program. The Matrix Model of treatment has been endorsed by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) as one of the only effective psychosocial models for the treatment of stimulants dependency. Dr. Torrington also serves as a member of the Friends Research Institute's Institutional Review Board and is a member of the California Society of Addiction Medicine's Opiate Committee.

Dr. Torrington has a clinical focus on the treatment of stimulant dependence, opiate dependence and pain. Dr. Torrington has most recently been working to develop more functional models for collecting data from successful patient care. He has contributed to inpatient work regarding the safety and efficacy trials for new pharmacotherapies for stimulant dependence as well as investigations in GHB pathophysiology. His outpatient contributions include medication trials of treatments for both cocaine and methamphetamine dependence as well as research on pain tolerance and threshold in the opiate dependent. Dr. Torrington has been collaborating with Dr. Walter Ling of UCLA in the development of outpatient treatment models for opiate dependence and pain focused on buprenorphine in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy.

Dr. Torrington attended Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pa., and completed his residency training at Christiana Care in Wilmington, Del. A board certified family medicine physician, Dr. Torrington is certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine and is a certified medical review officer.

About PROMETA(TM)

Hythiam's PROMETA treatment protocols are designed for use by healthcare providers seeking to treat individuals diagnosed with dependencies to alcohol, cocaine or methamphetamines, as well as combinations of these drugs. The PROMETA protocols include medically supervised procedures designed to address both the neurochemical imbalances in the brain and some of the nutritional deficits caused or worsened by substance dependence. Changes in brain chemistry and function play an important role in the physical and behavioral symptoms of substance dependence, including tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, craving and relapse. The PROMETA protocols also provide for one month of prescription medication and nutritional supplements, combined with psychosocial or other recovery-oriented therapy chosen by the patient in conjunction with their treatment provider. As a result, PROMETA represents an innovative approach to managing alcohol, cocaine or methamphetamine dependence that is designed to address physiological, nutritional and psychosocial aspects of the disease and is thereby intended to offer patients an opportunity to achieve sustained recovery.

About Hythiam, Inc.

Hythiam(R) is a healthcare services management company, focused on delivering solutions for those suffering from alcoholism and other substance dependencies. Hythiam researches, develops, licenses and commercializes innovative physiological treatment protocols that seek to address substance dependence. Additionally, Hythiam provides proprietary administrative services to assist physicians and facilities with staff education, marketing and sales support and outcomes tracking for data analysis. For further information, please visit www.hythiam.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, the matters discussed in this press release are forward looking and made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that may cause actual results to differ materially from stated expectations. These risk factors include, among others, limited operating history and lack of statistically significant formal research studies, the risk that treatment protocols might not be effective, difficulty in developing, exploiting and protecting proprietary technologies, intense competition and substantial regulation in the healthcare industry; and additional risks factors as discussed in the reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on its website at http://www.sec.gov.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category