Adverse reactions to drugs used to treat alcoholism

Abstract

The armamentarium of drugs used in the treatment of alcohol abuse has grown with newer and novel therapies introduced to improve compliance and adverse effect profiles. There is now a range of treatments particularly aimed at reducing craving and improving abstinence rates, including opioid antagonists (both long-acting and short-acting) and γ-aminobutyric-acid receptor analogues, which have a good evidence base and are reasonably well tolerated.