Baclofen is the drug that doctors can prescribe to their patients who are terribly addicted to alcohol. But its prescription remains limited by a temporary authorization for use decided upon pending the results of two ongoing therapeutic trials. Results that never cease to be long overdue … “Announced for last December, they are late, in part it seems, because many patient files are incomplete”, estimates Professor Henri-Jean Aubin, president of the French society of Alcoology. A “pretext” for Dr Renaud de Beaurepaire, head of the psychiatrist department, Paul Guiraud hospital group in Villejuif, who does not hide his fear of seeing once again the “torpedoed” baclofen. For this pioneer in the prescription of baclofen, it took six years to start the trials claimed from the beginning by Dr Ameisen, during this time, the cases of cure have accumulated, so are these trials really essential to authorize a “normal” prescription? He doubts it today.
The doses required are very variable
But at what dose to prescribe it? From the start, this question has fueled controversy. The quantity of baclofen necessary to obtain indifference to alcohol is indeed very variable according to the patients. But rarely weak. The positive results obtained by an Italian team with low doses (30 mg) being qualified as incomprehensible by the French experts. But who says high dose, says large number of tablets to swallow per day. And that says above all fear of serious side effects.
Side effects do not discourage sufferers
“What struck me very quickly when I started prescribing baclofen was that despite the discomfort caused by the side effects, most of the patients wanted to continue the treatment,” said Dr De Beaurepaire. With the other drugs, at the first annoying symptoms, it was rather necessary to negotiate to motivate them to continue ”. Still, as with any drug, side effects do exist. Even if the very gradual escalation of the doses is an effective way of controlling most of them. And they can be serious. “We must continue to study them in order to take better care of them”, underlined Dr. Pascal Gache, another prescriber from the start, in Geneva. But we must also continue to treat patients who are also waiting for a laboratory to manufacture more dosed tablets. Will salvation come from patient associations who are moving forward? “From the thousands of subscribers on our forum, we carry out surveys that allow us to trace the stories of patients, the results, the side effects”, explained Yves Brasey, vice-president of the baclofen association. A job that we could undoubtedly have started much earlier …
Landmarks
-January 2004: the Dr Olivier Ameisen starts taking baclofen, a drug previously prescribed for muscle spasms.
-April 2005: publication of his experience of indifference to alcohol in a recognized medical journal (Alcohol and Alcoholism)
– 2008: publication of Dr Olivier Ameisen’s book: the last glass ”, published by Denoel.
-March 2014: the Medicines Agency (ANSM) grants a recommendation for temporary use of baclofen (RTU).
On Pleine Vie, read the review ofAlix de Saint-André on the side effects of Baclofen
Also read:
– Baclofen: doctors shun the device
– LSD to cure alcoholism?
– Baclofen should not be used for weight loss
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