Briefly Noted

Abstract

Naltrexone alone is already approved for treating alcohol use disorder, but a new study has opened the door to looking at the combination of naltrexone and bupropion to reduce binge drinking. The study, an open‐label, single‐arm, 12‐week study, recruited 12 people who had at least five (in the case of the men) or three (in the case of the women) binge‐drinking episodes a month. All subjects received both bupropion extended‐release 300 mg/day and naltrexone 50 mg/day and were monitored for three months. Their average number of drinks per binge‐drinking day went from 7.8 to 6.4, and the average percentage of binge‐drinking days per month went from 19' to 5'. Insomnia, headache and nausea/diarrhea were the most common side effects, with the medications well‐tolerated; six subjects stayed on the medication after the trial. The study, “A Preliminary, Open‐Label Study of Naltrexone and Bupropion Combination Therapy for Treating Binge Drinking in Human Subjects,” by Thomas J. Walter and colleagues, was published online Nov. 20 in Alcohol and Alcoholism.