Nature 233, 342 - 343 (01 October 1971); doi:10.1038/233342a0

Teratogenicity Studies of Methadone HCl in Rats and Rabbits

JANET K. MARKHAM, JOHN L. EMMERSON & NORRIS V. OWEN

Toxicology Division, Eli Lilly and Company, PO Box 708, Greenfield, Indiana 46140

METHADONE maintenance was reported as a treatment for heroin addiction in 1965¹, and more than 10,000 patients are now maintained on the drug at more than 100 centres throughout the United States (unpublished Lilly Survey, 1970). Wallach et al. ² observed that although women experienced abnormal menses during heroin addiction, regular menstruation and ovulation resumed with daily methadone treatment. In these studies several pregnancies were followed in which methadone maintenance was initiated before or during pregnancy with no apparent effect.

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