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City Court of Gary, Indiana Presents Outcomes Data on Offenders Treated With Hythiam's PROMETA Protocols at American Probation and Parole Association's (APPA) 31st Annual Training Institute

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 July 2006, 15:01 CDT

Hythiam, Inc. (NASDAQ:HYTM):

-- 95% of Aggregate Urine Samples Screen Negative for Use 6 Months After Treatment Initiation

-- 80% of PROMETA Pilot Participants Maintain Drug Court Compliance and Remain Drug Free; 75% Are Fully Employed

-- Success Seen in Socio-Economically Disadvantaged African American Minority Population

Hythiam, Inc. (NASDAQ:HYTM), a healthcare services management company that licenses the PROMETA(TM) treatment protocols designed to treat alcohol, methamphetamine and cocaine dependence, announced today that Judge Deidre Monroe presented outcomes from individuals treated with PROMETA in her drug court program at the American Probation and Parole Association's (APPA) 31st Annual Training Institute, on Monday, July 24, 2006. PROMETA was adopted as a treatment by the City Court of Gary, Indiana, when results from a pilot study with stimulant dependent drug court participants overwhelmingly surpassed the Court's historical success rates.

Represented at the APPA Institute are all areas of community supervision including parole, probation, juvenile justice, treatment, social work, residential programs, victim services and restitution. There are in excess of 5 million drug and alcohol dependent lives that impact criminal justice, probation, and parole.

"Based upon its success in what was a socio-economically disadvantaged and African American minority population, PROMETA has fundamentally changed our outlook on the treatment of addicted criminal offenders," said the Honorable Deidre Monroe. "These were chronically relapsing, addicted individuals that we selected into the pilot, most had failed multiple prior treatment experiences, and a few had even previously failed drug court. PROMETA's positive impact on the individuals was immediately apparent and they were able to more easily participate in the rehabilitation process. 80% of the participants are currently still doing well with aggregate negative urine drug testing of over 95%. In addition to giving us a very high retention and compliance rate which resulted in significant decrease in positive drug screens, there was also an improvement in attitude and motivation towards recovery, with many individuals returning to employment. Typically these offenders come to us with a less than 25% employment rate, but in the case of PROMETA treated individuals we find that over 75% are employed, many finding jobs far more rapidly than traditional drug court rates would anticipate. Also, the re-arrest rate for this PROMETA treated population has been much lower than our historical failure rate. The results of PROMETA far exceed our existing internal success rates and we are committed to sharing these results with others in the law enforcement, criminal justice and corrections field."

Judge Monroe continued, "There is a great need for a new model for dealing with the stimulant dependent individual and PROMETA appears to be an ideal complement to our existing psycho-social framework. Furthermore, the fact that PROMETA embraces both the biologically based aspects of addiction as well as the psycho-social, allows us to provide equal access for all offenders regardless of socio-economic status or literacy level within our existing court and probation infrastructure. While our pilot was for crack cocaine and alcohol and cocaine poly-addicted individuals, we have also learned that Pierce County Alliance, Washington, has adopted PROMETA for the treatment of methamphetamine dependent individuals based upon their own pilot results."

"We are honored to have Justice Monroe share the results of her court's successful pilot of the PROMETA Protocols with this distinguished audience," said Hythiam Chairman and CEO, Terren Peizer. "While the City Court of Gary had originally presented three month outcomes, of note in Judge Monroe's latest presentation is the durability of positive outcomes beyond this initial period; six months after the initiation of treatment. Combined, there are millions of drug and alcohol dependent lives that impact criminal justice, probation, and parole. We believe that treatment of these individuals can result in a significant reduction of direct and indirect costs to society. As a result, this is a very important segment of the substance dependent population for Hythiam."

APPA is an international association composed of individuals from the United States, its territories and Canada who are actively involved with probation, parole and community-based corrections, in both adult and juvenile sectors. All levels of government including local, state/provincial, legislative, executive, judicial and federal agencies are counted among its constituents. By taking the initiative, APPA has grown to become the voice for thousands of probation and parole practitioners including line staff, supervisors and administrators. Educators, volunteers and concerned citizens with an interest in criminal and juvenile justice are also among APPA's members. The association represents a strong, unified voice for the field of community corrections.

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 methamphetamine, as well as combinations of these drugs. The PROMETA treatment protocols comprise nutritional supplements, FDA-approved oral and IV medications used off-label and separately administered in a unique dosing algorithm, as well as psychosocial or other recovery-oriented therapy. 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, nutritional, and behavioral treatment protocols that seek to address substance dependence. Additionally, Hythiam provides proprietary administrative services to assist physicians and facilities with staff education, marketing and outreach support, and outcomes tracking for data analysis. For further information, please click on 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

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