Monthly Shot for Alcoholism Found Effective
Reported April 7, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Heavy drinkers who want to quit might benefit from a once-a-month shot of a drug known to fight alcoholism.
Thats the key finding from researchers who studied the effect of monthly injections of the drug naltrexone (ReVia) in about 625 heavy drinkers who were randomized to receive a 380 milligram dose of the drug, a 190 milligram dose, or a placebo injection over six months.
Compared to those receiving the sham treatment, those on the higher dose of the drug experienced about a 25 percent decrease in the number of heavy drinking days. Those on the lower dose reduced heavy drinking days by about 17 percent. Men fared better in the study than women, as did those who had already been abstaining from drinking before the beginning of the study.
All the participants also received 12 sessions of psychosocial counseling.
The authors note naltrexone has been shown effective when taken daily by mouth, but many people fail to comply with the treatment. Being able to receive a monthly injection instead could significantly increase the usefulness of this important drug in the treatment of alcoholism.
They write, Long-acting naltrexone was well tolerated and resulted in reductions in heavy drinking among treatment-seeking alcohol-dependent patients during six months of therapy. These data indicate that long-acting naltrexone can be of benefit in the treatment of alcohol dependence.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2005;293:1617-1625