Any time a new study claims there is a pill that will help people stop drinking it makes national headlines, because currently there is no cure for alcoholism and there is no "magic pill" that will stop the craving for alcohol in every alcoholic. This week, two drugs were in the headlines, promising to offer help to those who drink too much.

First, a drug called varenicline, already is marketed by Pfizer under the brand name Chantix to help smokers kick the habit, was found to also help heavy drinkers quit too in a study at the University of California, San Francisco.

Varenicline works by blocking the "pleasurable" effects of smoking in the brain, and researchers found it also did the same for heavy drinkers, the Associated Press reported.

But the tests were done on laboratory rats and varenicline has yet to be tested on humans. Human studies are planned for the drug, and if they are successful, the fact that varenicline is already FDA approved for smokers will speed the process along.

However, the company that makes the drug Pfizer has not decided if it will even seek expanded approval. "Without having considerable more data on this it would be very difficult for us to say we might pursue it or not. It's almost a wait-and-see," said Pfizer's Stephen Lederer.

Nalmefene Reduces Heavy Drinking

Also making headlines this week, a Finnish study found that heavy drinkers could cut the number of "heavy drinking days" in half by taking nalmefene every time they had the urge to drink. Instead of drinking heavily 16 days a month, the group only drank heavily eight or nine days UPI reported.

"It has a robust and sustained effect in reducing harmful heavy drinking in a large study population," said Sakari Karhuvaara, a medical researcher in Turku, Finland.

About one-quarter to one-third of patients who took nalmefene during the study reported nausea, insomnia, fatigue or dizziness.

Nalmefene is an opioid antagonist, which means it blocks the brain receptors that are stimulated by heroin and other opiate drugs. Naltrexone, another medication in this class marketed under the brand name Revia, is already approved in the U.S. to treat alcoholism. Nalmefene, marketed as Revex, is not approved in the U.S.

More Information:

• Medications for Alcoholism
  
• Naltrexone - Treatment for Alcoholism and Addiction
  
• More About Nalmefene

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