Selincro可以帮助酗酒的患者减少60％的饮用。

欧洲患者应对酗酒者现在有一个新的治疗选择。根据全球制药公司Lundbeck的公告，已经批准了Selincro，或Nalmefene批准降低酒精依赖患者的酒精消耗，并运往挪威，芬兰，波兰和波罗的海国家的市场。

“This is an area with significant unmet medical needs, and we are excited about introducing an innovative treatment concept that provides a new and different option for patients who may otherwise not seek treatment,” said Ole Chrintz, Lundbeck’s Senior Vice President of International Markets and Europe, in a新闻稿。

伦贝克报告称，在临床试验期间，含酒精患者服用诸如急需药物的患者将其酗酒减少约60％，六个月的治疗后。

While the drug is expected to launch in other countries in 2013 and 2014, there are currently no plans to launch Selincro in the U.S. market “due to the limited data exclusivity that Selincro could get there,” said Lundbeck’s Media Relations Manager Mads Kronborg in an interview with Healthline.

However, if Selincro proves successful in Europe, it’s possible that another company could license and distribute it in the U.S., said Roger Meyer, professor of psychiatry at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and founding director of the Alcoholism Research Center at the University of Connecticut Medical School.

酗酒是一种影响世界各地人民的疾病。根据MedlinePlus., about 18 million American adults are alcoholics or have alcohol use issues, and according to the世界卫生组织，欧洲地区具有世界上最高比例的疾病和酗酒造成的过早死亡。

据该统计，酗酒的四个主要特征 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism （niaaa）是：

  • 渴望：强烈需要喝酒
  • 失去控制：一旦你开始，无法停止饮酒
  • 物理依赖性：戒断症状，​​例如恶心，出汗或摇晃时不喝酒
  • Tolerance: the need to drink greater amounts of alcohol to feel the same level of intoxication

根据the NIAAA ，美国酗酒的当前治疗包括谈判疗法，例如动机增强治疗和认知行为治疗。

Medications are also sometimes prescribed along with talk therapy. These include Disulfiram, which interferes with the breakdown of alcohol in the body, and Naltrexone, which blocks the activity of the opiate receptors in the brain responsible for relaying feelings of pleasure when you consume addictive substances.

而Selincro不是第一种发育的药物，以帮助患有酒精依赖的患者依赖于饮酒，它被称为“通用阿片类药物拮抗剂”，并且与大脑中的Mu阿片受体更有效地结合，这参与产生感受迈耶斯说，在毒品使用的快乐和奖励中。

Like other medications used to treat alcohol dependence, Selincro is prescribed in addition to psychosocial therapy and is intended for adult patients who have high-risk drinking habits but don’t require immediate detoxification. Drug side effects include nausea, dizziness, insomnia, and headaches.

While doctors can’t yet prescribe Selincro to alcohol-dependent patients in the U.S., Meyer says we badly need a wider variety of medications to combat alcoholism in the States.

“如在抑郁症领域，我们有太多没有完全应对他们的药物的患者，除了我们在已经批准的药物课程中的各种选择之外，我们还需要新的突破性药物，”Meyer说过。

根据the NIAAA 、酗酒可以持续在一个人的生活,but new research continues to change our understanding of the disease. For example, according to data from the NIAAA’s National Epidemiological Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions, “more than 70 percent of people who develop alcohol dependence have a single episode that lasts on average three or four years.” This survey also shows that “many people who seek formal treatment are able to remain alcohol free, and many others recover without formal treatment.”

If you are concerned about your drinking habits, ask your healthcare provider about medicines and support groups that can help you break the cycle of alcohol dependence.