A Bartender's Worst Nightmare

Preliminary Tests Show Drug May Curb Cravings For Alcohol And Cigarettes

(AP)  Bar-hoppers everywhere discovered long ago that smoking and drinking go hand-in-hand.

So, why not a single pill that helps curb the two vices?

A drug called varenicline may be the answer. The tablets already have been shown to make smoking less rewarding for some. Preliminary work, done in rats, suggests they could do the same for drinking.

"The biggest thrill is that this drug, which has already proved safe for people trying to stop smoking, is now a potential drug to fight alcohol dependence," said Selena Bartlett, a neuroscientist with the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco who led the study. Details appear this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

That a single drug could work to curb both addictions isn't a given — nor is it surprising, said Christopher de Fiebre, an associate professor of pharmacology and neuroscience at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth.

"This is an extremely important paper and hopefully it will convince the major funding agencies that they need to examine the interactions between nicotine and alcohol to a greater extent than they have done to date," said de Fiebre, who was not connected with the study.

Pfizer Inc. developed varenicline specifically as a stop-smoking aid and has sold it in the United States since August under the brand name Chanpix. Pfizer provided the drug for the new study, but was not otherwise involved in the research.

Varenicline works by latching onto the same receptors in the brain that nicotine binds to when inhaled in cigarette smoke, an action that leads to the release of dopamine in the brain's pleasure centers. Taking the drug blocks any inhaled nicotine from reinforcing that effect.

The new study suggests not just nicotine but alcohol also acts on the same locations in the brain. But several experts not involved in the study cautioned that there is no such thing as a magic cure-all for addiction and that varenicline and similar drugs may find more immediate use in treating diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Expanding its use as a treatment for alcohol abuse may be the first order of business, though. The California researchers, together with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, are now planning the first studies in humans of the drug's effectiveness in curbing alcohol cravings and dependence, Bartlett said. That the drug is already Food and Drug Administration-approved should speed things along.

"This is a drug that people are actually using. That's not trivial — not at all," said Mark Egli, co-leader of the medications development program at the NIAAA, part of the National Institutes of Health. "There is plenty of animal research that looks pretty cool but there is no way those drugs are ever going to be used by human beings."

In the new study, researchers trained rats to drink alcohol and measured the effect of varenicline once the animals became the laboratory equivalent of heavy drinkers. They found the drug curbed their drinking. Even when stopped, the animals resumed drinking but didn't binge.

Just as varenicline doesn't work for all smokers, it's highly unlikely it would for all drinkers.

"Is this going to be a cure-all? No, not for smoking or alcoholism because both diseases are more complicated than a single target or single genetic issue," said Allan Collins, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Colorado who was not connected to the study.

Still, Collins, who's worked on the topic for decades, called the drug's potential use in treating alcoholism a "no-brainer." And Egli said it supports the emerging view that there is a common biological basis for addictions to both alcohol and tobacco.

As for Pfizer, the New York company has yet to decide whether to seek broader FDA approval for the drug, a spokesman said.

"Without having considerable more data on this it would be very difficult for us to say we might pursue it or not. It's almost a wait-and-see," said Pfizer's Stephen Lederer.

[eloisclayton]

It would be great if scientist could event a way to remove the receptor that triggers the urge to smoke or drink while having a replacement receptor that doesn't. You know, like the invention that just recently was developed that grows organ parts. Wouldn't that be great? PS: Be sure to mention it!

[toolmangler-2009]

I can state with certainty 'there is a cure for smoking', its called death. If you don't want to keep dying, quit smoking, I did and haven't died since. (course we all know its like the guy that jumped off the Empire State Building, as he passed each floor he could be heard saying "so far, so good").

[toldyouso21]

My guess is that no one is really thinking this through. As much as people may want to stop smoking or drinking...while in the grip of their addiction, it is the high and the sensations from both habits that they crave...so when they note that they use the drug and do not get what they want out of their drug of choice....did anyone stop to think that they just will stop using varenicline?

People will do a lot for a high. Just like when a cola is flat, they may soldier through, but many more will go back for another one and hope it has the zing. My guess is, that many addicts will want the high more than they want to quit (because that is the mindset of many addicts) and they will NOT take their pills or will take them sporadically. They will mean to take them--but subconsciously, they won't because they will know the drug ruins their high. Watch.

[boston1954]

THAT is why we 'hate' Kouric - she dumbed down a news cast Dan Rather took pride in keeping literate) rather than an anchor passing important information and now we get this vernacular and poor spelling.
Posted by perm3800 at 02:54 PM : Jul 11, 2007

You are a fine one to rant about spelling. It's Couric.......

[my2centss]

When people quit smoking and drinking, who will be left to pay the taxes. Maybe they could just place them on gas.

[perm3800]

CBS news has again proven itself the junkyard of news. The stop smoking pill is marketed in the US as CHANTIX. Give up on spell check and hire proof readers and fact checkers. Geesh. And to think foreigners might collect their news here and see such grand English phrases as "What follows is not CBS News stuff" in what is supposed to be a literate venue. First we get a news "host" doing fluff (THAT is why we 'hate' Kouric - she dumbed down a news cast Dan Rather took pride in keeping literate) rather than an anchor passing important information and now we get this vernacular and poor spelling.

[yoopermom]

Exactly nvme3, I know many people that quit smoking with this Magic Pill and started smoking again as soon as they quit taking the pill.

[nvme3]

if ya think a pill will solve then you are fool. eventually ya stop takin the pill then what? the underlying patterns are still there.

[brianbwb-2009]

Another "magic pill" to medicate away sin.

I don't drink, (don't like the high) but I do enjoy pipes and fine cigars, repentantly and proudly, and couldn't care less if the anti smoking extremists don't like it.

Go ahead, guilt ridden suckers, look for the easy way to deny your desires, take the pill, and maybe they will come up with a cure for the side effects your kids will encounter down the road, remember Thalidomide?

[michellem99-2009]

I read it and said poor baby haha. IF they lose business over some new midication fine with me. I dislike drunks. Sober their fine. There are homeless folks that bum money or try and they want a bottle. I don't have it. Hope works on the drinkers'brain.

[whatsup49]

The drug's brand name is Chantix, not Chanpix. Where's a fact checker when you need one.

[whatsup49]

The drug's brand name is Chantix, not Chanpix. Where's a fact checker when you need one.

[gopack443]

"But several experts not involved in the study cautioned that there is no such thing as a magic cure-all for addiction"

I wonder who the "Experts" are? Aoda counselors or as I like to call them aoda extortionists?