A report appearing in the October 10 issue of JAMA, reveals how, in a study, it was noticed that patients who were alcohol dependent but had been administered Topiramate, an anticonvulsant drug prescribed for epilepsy seizures and migraine headaches experienced fewer drinking days, less drinking each day and a longer stretch of continuous abstinence in comparison to other alcohol dependent patients who had received only a placebo.
The report also revealed that an earlier trial had shown how the administration-of the medication Topiramate turned out to be useful in treating patients for alcohol dependence.
From the University of Virginia, Dr. Bankole A. Johnson, D.Sc., M.D., PhD and his team carried out a trial from January, 2004 to August, 2006 in order to ascertain how effective Topiramate was compared to a placebo.
In the study 371 people of both sexes from eighteen to 65 years who had been diagnosed as alcohol dependent were observed at seventeen different sites in the U.S. About half were randomly assigned to receive dosages of up to 300 mg/day of Topiramate (n = 183) or placebo (n = 188) accompanied by psychosocial treatment each week while the rest were administered a placebo instead.
At the end of the study the results showed that those who were medicated reduced their drinking from 81.9% to 43.8% by the end of the fourteenth week whereas those who had been on the placebo reduced their drinking from 82.80% to 51.8%. This was a difference of 8.44%
More detailed analysis also revealed that the drug helped decrease the percentage of heavy drinking days by 16.19%.
Still further, the scientists noted that the drug was also effective in helping the subjects experience longer periods without continuous heavy drinking, even up to 28 days or more of absolute abstinence.
There were a few side effects such as pins-and-needles sensations, fatigue, anorexia, taste distortion, headaches and difficulty in concentrating, however. But the authors felt the effects were mild compared to the side effects experienced as a result of other drugs used to treat alcoholism such as Acamprosate or Naltrexone. Besides, according to Johnson, most of these side effects disappeared over time. He remarked that some of his alcohol-dependent patients have been on Topamax for up to two years, and they will most likely continue taking it.
Dr. Johnson said that the drug Topiramate helps lessen an alcoholic's thirst by addressing neurotransmitter imbalances in the brain that have been brought on by long-term alcohol abuse.
Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at Charlottesville's University of Virginia, Johnson, said, "This is good news for people in crisis…This is a drug that they can get from their family doctor, which means they could potentially be treated in the community, instead of having to leave their jobs and their families to seek treatment in a rehab facility as is often the case."
"You can come in drinking a bottle of scotch a day and get treatment without detox," he added.
However, drugs such as Topiramate are not widely prescribed, and Ortho-McNeil Neurologics Inc. the company manufacturing Topamax, and which sponsored the study, says it has no plans to market the drug which is already being used off-label to treat alcoholism, as a treatment for alcoholism. This is, it says, because its researchers could do nothing about alleviating the side effects associated with the drug.
