Finns invent pill for heavy drinking
Before you get too excited, the pill doesn't help you to drink heavily; it's supposed to help you to cut down. Science Daily reports:
Problem drinkers who took a craving-curbing drug whenever they felt the desire to imbibe reported fewer heavy drinking days each month than drinkers who took a look-alike placebo pill, but both groups reported marked reductions in heavy drinking days.
These findings come from a study of 403 heavy drinkers in Finland, who took either a placebo or the drug nalmefene on an "as needed basis."
The pill is manufactured by BioTie Therapies, a company based in Turku, and the study was conducted by physician and researcher Sakari Karhuvaara. (Disclaimer: "Karhuvaara is a physician and health researcher who was once an employee of Biotie Therapies Corp., the manufacturer of nalmefene. The drug maker supported the new study.")
Via Andrew Sullivan.
2 comments:
Considering the recent notoriety of Chinese fake medicine manufacture it might be useful to have the genuine pill manufactured in Finland and the placebo ( which seems to have some good effect) manufactured economically in China.
Clearly we need more research on the placebo to make sure it doesn't have harmful side effects.
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