Authors: B.J. Mason, A.M. Goodman, S. Chabac, P. Lehert
This is the first US study to evaluate the
clinical efficacy of acamprosate (Campral), a newly FDA-approved medication for maintaining abstinence in patients with alcohol dependence following alcohol withdrawal. We compared effects of the standard 2g dose (n=258) and an exploratory 3g dose of acamprosate (n=83) versus placebo (n=260), and evaluated drug safety in a double-blind,
placebo-controlled 6-month trial conducted in 21 outpatient clinics across the US. Participants were 601 volunteers with current alcohol dependence recruited primarily by advertisement. All patients concomitantly received eight sessions of brief manual-guided counseling (www.alcoholfree.info). The main outcome