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New Results and New Questions

Henry R. Kranzler, MD

JAMA. 2006;295:2075-2076.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

An estimated 8 million adults in the United States have alcohol dependence.¹ Of this number, only a minority ever receive treatment for the disorder, even when treatment is defined broadly to include participation in Alcoholics Anonymous. Of the alcohol-dependent individuals who receive treatment, only a small fraction ever receive a medication specifically approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the disorder.

In 1994, the FDA approved naltrexone for the treatment of alcohol dependence.^2-3 This followed by nearly 50 years the approval of disulfiram, which was approved prior to the modern era of efficacy review. Meta-analytic studies of naltrexone have shown that the drug reduces the risk of relapse to heavy drinking and, to a lesser extent, the frequency of drinking.^4-5 In 2004, following use of acamprosate in Europe for more than a decade, the FDA approved this drug for treatment of alcohol . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington.

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