Anti-smoking drug could help treat alcoholism: study

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A recently approved anti-smoking medication could also serve to repress an alcoholic's desire for drink, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California-San Francisco.

Varenicline, manufactured by Pfizer and approved as a smoking cessation aid in the United States and Europe in 2006, has been shown to reduce nicotine consumption by affecting the brain's reward system for addictive substances.

The research team, noting that cigarettes and alcohol are often abused together, wanted to see if the drug had the same affect on drinking.

The researchers tested the impact of varenicline -- know by its trade names Chantix in the United States and Champix in Europe -- on laboratory rats which had consumed high amounts of...