Drug to help quit smoking also appears useful to alcoholics

Drug to help quit smoking also appears useful to alcoholics

By Liz Lockhart

An unexpected positive side effect to a medication which is commonly used to help people stop smoking may have been found.  The medication is called ‘varenicline’, sold as ‘Chantix’, and has been associated with increased negative effects of alcohol by researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine.  It is, therefore, thought that this could hold promise as an alcoholism treatment.

A single dose of varenicline was given to a group of heavy-to-moderate social drinkers three hours before an alcoholic beverage was consumed.  The participants in the group reported increased dysphoria (a feeling of being ill at ease) and a reduced ‘liking’ for alcohol.  It is felt that these effects may reduce drinking in people who are inclined to binge drink as well as other alcohol abuse.

‘We found that varenicline increased the unpleasant effects of alcohol and decreased drug liking.  Thus we think that varenicline may reduce drinking by altering the effects of alcohol,’ said Emma Childs, PhD., research associate at the University of Chicago Medicine.  Childs is the first author of the study.

People who have been prescribed Chantix to stop smoking have reported a reduction in their consumption of alcohol, something which is backed up by controlled studies in both humans and animals.

‘Smokers who use varenicline are approximately two to three times more likely to remain abstinent six months or more after their quit date.  After it was approved, several patients treated with varenicline also reported reductions in their drinking, so investigators began to assess if this was an actual effect and how it might be produced,’ Childs said.

This new study is the first to examine the effects of a single dose of varenicline on the response to a subsequent alcoholic drink.  Participants were recruited based on their heavy drinking not on their smoking.  The participants did smoke an average of four cigarettes per day. 

Eight men and seven women went to the laboratory for six separate sessions.  Each session they received either a placebo capsule or varenicline.  Three hours later they were given a drink which contained either 0, 0.4 or 0.8 mg/kg alcohol. The participants then completed questionnaires to report the effects of the drink whilst they were monitored by the researchers for cardiovascular and eye movement measures.

When compared to sessions where the participants received a placebo pill, varenicline increased heart rate, blood pressure and nausea.  After the consumption of an alcoholic drink there was self-reported increases in dysphoria.

Childs said that by increasing the negative effects of alcohol, varenicline might be the most effective in people who are unable to stop consuming alcohol after only one drink.

‘Our findings shed light on the mechanism underlying why people consume less alcohol when they have taken varenicline.  The pleasurable effects of alcohol, for example feeling ‘buzzed’ and talkative, are associated with greater consumption and binge drinking.  Some people lose control of their alcohol consumption during a drinking episode, for example they may aim to only have one or two drinks but end up drinking say four or five.  If varencline counteracts these positive effects by producing unpleasant effects, then as a result people may consume less alcohol during a drinking episode,’ Childs said.

It is thought that the unanticipated effects on drinking may make people struggling with both drinking and smoking a logical first target, although the authors cautioned that their study only examined the acute effect of a single dose of varenicline.  The authors also feel that this is backed up by the fact that varenicline has already been proved useful as a smoking cessation drug.

  

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