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San Antonio (pte037/16.05.2003/16:55) - Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Centre http://www.uthscsa.edu have discovered a secondary use for Topiramat. The medication, which is used for sufferers of epilepsy, reduces the urge to drink alcohol. Alongside a standard therapy the alcohol consummation of alcoholics was markedly reduced, the science magazine Lancet reports.
Researchers studied the effects of the drug on 150 alcoholics. "All 150 patients were heavy drinkers. The men drank up to five alcoholic drinks a day, the women four," explained Bankole Johnson, head of the department for Alcohol and Drug Addiction at the centre. Half of the participants were prescribed Topiramat over a period of three months; the others were given a placebo drug. Topiramat patients were six times more likely to abstain from alcohol than the other patients. After three months the patients on Topiramat drank three drinks less than the placebo group. During this time the days of heavy drinking dropped by 28 per cent and abstinence grew by 26 per cent.
It is suspected that the drug inhibits the activation of the alcohol-induced secretion of Dopamin. This chemical messenger influences dependency and the origins of psychoses. The use of Topiramat against alcoholism will be further researched.
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