Injection for Alcohol Treatment Available this Summer

For the first time, a pharmaceutical company has produced a once-monthly injectable drug to treat dependence on alcohol. The FDA has approved Vivitrol, expected to be available to medical providers and their patients by late June. The injectable drug is nonaddictive and must be administered by a health professional.

Intended for alcohol-dependent patients in an outpatient setting, the injection is used in combination with counseling or group therapy. Vivitrol works best for patients who are not actively drinking when beginning the treatment.


A six-month study of Vivitrol was conducted with 624 patients who had typically spent 20 days a month drinking heavily – five or more drinks daily for men and four or more drinks a day for women. Participants were randomly assigned to get the monthly shot of Vivitrol or a similar shot as a placebo (no medication). All received psychosocial support.

Results for those receiving the new drug were dramatic, according to Dr. Michael Bohn, a board-certified addiction psychiatrist and one of the study researchers. For those who received Vivitrol instead of placebo, their rate of continued heavy drinking was 25% lower than in the control group.

All participants had been asked to abstain from alcohol for a week before receiving the first shot. Some complied and some did not. Patients who abstained for at least four days before getting an injection of Vivitrol were more likely to remain abstinent, or they drank much less than they had previously.

Two-thirds of those enrolled in the study based at a Wisconsin treatment center completed the six-month treatment regimen. All who did were allowed to stay on Vivitrol. Those who received only the placebo were offered the drug, and 85% of them accepted the new injectable drug.

The medication was well-tolerated by most patients taking part in the clinical trials. A few experienced mild nausea, vomiting, headache, fatigue, or reactions at the injection site. The once-a-month injection made compliance relatively easy.

The drug manufactures warned, however, that persons taking opiods or in acute opiod withdrawal should not take Vivitrol. In addition, the active ingredient, naltrexone, can cause liver damage if given in excessive doses.

Vivitrol works by binding to and blocking the opioid or pleasure-sensing receptors in the brain, thus removing or reducing the incentive to drink. Naltrexone has been successfully used in tablet forms by alcohol treatment programs for many years. However, Vivitrol is the only injectable drug given once per month to treat alcohol dependence.

About 18 million people in the U.S. are dependent on alcohol or drink excessively. More than 2 million of them receive treatment each year. Vivitrol offers new hope for a significant number of those seeking help from treatment programs for their alcohol addiction.

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