AboutDr Alan Galbraith Expertise I can answer most questions on drugs, both medical and "recreational". Answers can be given in either technical or layperson terminology. My main areas of interest are psychiatric, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular drugs.
Experience I have been a university lecturer/head of department for almost thirty years, but am now retired. My research interests were alcohol, smoking and cardiovascular disease.
Organizations Institute of Biology, London.
Publications Principal author of "Fundamentals of Pharmacology" 4th Edition published in November 2003 by Pearson Education, Australia.
Expert: Dr Alan Galbraith Date: 2/29/2008 Subject: Drug Treatment for Alcoholism
Question I read that Antalarmin is a Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (CRH) receptor antagonist. It is used in the treatment of mental disorders, major depression and Alzheimers disease, all of which have a component of CRH hyperactivity. The drug is still in trial phase and not yet cleared for human use. Is it also being tested to treat alcoholism? Is there any drug therapy that can help someone who has drank alcoholically for over 20 years?
Answer Dear Loretta
Antalarmin has been shown experimentally to moderate cocaine, opiates and equivocally alcohol use in rodents and is still under investigation. Whether or not it will prove useful in human addictions is still up in the air (very high!!).
There are at least three drugs used in alcoholism with some success. The most widely known is Antabuse which causes nausea etc when alcohol is consumed thus causes avoidance therapy. The other two act on the brain and supposedly take away the desire for alcohol. They are acamprosate and naltrexone (the drug used to help heroin addicts). Both of the latter have some success.
