Novel pharmacotherapies and patents for alcohol abuse and alcoholism 1998-2001

Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are major medical and social problems worldwide. Unfortunately, pharmacotherapies currently available to physicians do not appear to possess relevant therapeutic efficacy. New medications are needed for the enhancing of abstinence and preventing relapse in alcoholics, as well as for reducing alcohol drinking. Relevant improvements in the pharmacotherapy of alcoholism are conceived to derive from elucidation of the elusive mechanisms of alcohol action in brain. Indeed, only a complete knowledge of how alcohol acts in brain and why drinking is so pleasurable and compelling in some individuals will allow the rational design and development of selective drugs capable of correcting the neurochemical alterations underlying alcohol dependence. The present paper reviews the research advances, at both preclinical and clinical levels, published in the scientific literature as well as the most recent (1998-2001) patent literature.