Topamax, a migraine pill, can help alcoholics taper off drinking without detox treatment, according to a study in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
The migraine pill, also called topiramate, works in a different way than three other medications already approved for treating alcoholism.
The study was funded by the maker of the drug, Johnson & Johnson Inc.
Researchers followed 371 heavy drinkers aging from 18 to 65 in 17 U.S. cities for 14 weeks. About half were randomly assigned to take Topamax in gradually increasing doses. The others took dummy pills.
"The individuals are being treated at a point of maximum crisis, when they are drinking severely," said Dr. Bankole Johnson of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, lead researcher of the study.
All the subjects were encouraged -- but not required -- to stop drinking.
At the start of the study, they drank, on average, 11 standard drinks daily.
By the end of the study, 27 of the 183 people, or 15 percent, who took Topamax had quit drinking entirely for seven weeks or more. That compared to six out of 188, or 3 percent, in the placebo group.
Others cut back. The Topamax group cut back to six drinks a day, on average, assuming everyone who dropped out of the study relapsed into heavy drinking. That compared to seven drinks a day for the placebo group.
"You can come in drinking a bottle of scotch a day and get treatment without detox," said Dr. Johnson.
Johnson said the drug appeared to be safe and effective for the treatment of alcoholism and said a future study testing the use of the drug in community health care settings is in the works.
But side effects are a problem. Drinkers assigned the drug did report some side effects, including pins-and-needles sensations, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and headaches among other things.
It's also unclear whether the findings will make a dent in an addiction that affects millions of Americans.
Source:Xinhua/agencies
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