Drug to Treat Migraines May HelpHeavy Drinkers Curb Alcohol Use

By JENNIFER CORBETT DOOREN October 10, 2007; Page D4
WASHINGTON -- A drug used to treat migraines and epilepsy showed the potential to help heavy drinkers curb their alcohol use, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers, led by Bankole Johnson, chairman of the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, have been studying whether topiramate, sold under the brand name Topamax by a unit of Johnson & Johnson, might treat alcoholism.
Researchers enrolled 371 patients, all considered heavy drinkers, at 17 sites between January 2004 and August 2006. About half were given Topamax at varying doses and the others were given a placebo, or sugar pill. All of the patients were encouraged but not required to stop drinking. The study was funded by Ortho McNeil Neurologics, a unit of Johnson & Johnson.
Patients in the study were followed for 14 weeks. Dr. Johnson said Topamax had varying effects on patients compared to those taking the placebo, but he said, overall Topamax allowed more people to cut back the number of drinks they had each day or to even stop drinking. Patients entering the study drank an average of 11 drinks a day.
One measure showed patients in the Topamax group, on average, cut back to six drinks a day while those in the placebo group cut back to seven drinks per day. By the end of the study, 27 out of 183 patients in the Topamax group had stopped drinking compared with six patients out of 188 in the placebo group. The patients weren't followed after the study ended so it's unknown how many relapsed.
The study showed Topamax did carry side effects including tingling and numbness of the skin, headache, and changes in taste.
Dr. Johnson said current medications approved to treat alcohol dependence are given after a person has stopped drinking or gone through detox. He said researchers would like to find treatments that can be used while people are still drinking. Topamax is designed to inhibit dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain involved in several functions including regulating behavior, sleep and mood.
A spokeswoman for Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, said the company doesn't have plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration to approve the drug as an alcohol-dependence treatment.