Epilepsy drug helps reduce alcoholism

A recent study suggests that the epilepsy drug Topiramate may help alcoholics reduce their alcohol consumption. The drug cut the number of drinks per day, the number of 'heavy' drinking days and boosted the number of abstinent days in alcoholics seeking treatment. Topiramate (Topamax) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1996 to treat epilepsy and has been under study more recently to prevent migraines.Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center did a study where 150 male and female alcoholics were randomly assigned to take topiramate or a placebo for three months. All of the participants underwent weekly sessions to encourage drug compliance and alcohol abstinence. The researchers relied on self-reported alcohol intake and also measured the level of an enzyme that is used as a biological marker for alcohol consumption.It was found that patients taking topiramate drank three fewer drinks per day, had nearly 28 percent fewer days when they drank more than five drinks (considered heavy drinking), and had 26 percent more days in which they shunned alcohol compared to those who took the placebo. In addition, the researchers found lower levels of the alcohol-associated enzyme in people taking topiramate than in those taking placebo. The results showed that the drug is more effective than placebo in reducing drinking and promoting abstinence in alcohol-dependent individuals who were seeking treatment.

One important aspect of the investigation, according to the researchers, was that the participants were not required to abstain from drinking alcohol before they started the study. The results suggest that different drugs could be targeted at different stages of alcoholism treatment, the initiation of abstinence, the maintenance of early abstinence or the maintenance of prolonged abstinence.

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