This post is part of an ambitious project to crowd-source the December issue of Forbes Magazine. Click here to submit your own ideas for “Names You need to Know in 2011.” The best will run in the magazine.
Baclofen may just be the little pill that could prevent the deaths of the approximately two million people around the world who die from the effects of alcohol each year, according to the World Health Organization. Not to mention countless lost jobs and productivity hours, failed marriages and children born with defects.
Expect to hear a lot more about baclofen.
Or just ask Olivier Ameisen, M.D., cardiologist at New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical College, Légion d’Honneur medalist for his “contribution to the image of France abroad and to cardiology,” friend of Elie Wiesel and recovered alcoholic.
Despite running a thriving medical practice, he had become a binge drinker, notes The Guardian in a may 2010 profile, and by 1997 was regularly being admitted to the hospital. He tried the five As of alcohol treatment: Antabuse, antidepressants, acupuncture and Alcoholics Anonymous–plus hypnosis, Valium and yoga.
Along came baclofen. The anti-spasticity medication (brand names Kemstro and Lioresal) was earlier touted as an antidote for cocaine abusers in a study by the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute.
No medication is considered a “cure” by addiction experts, treatment centers such as Hazelden, self-help groups like AA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Most find or advocate that medication (in appropriate cases) plus substance abuse counseling coupled with a spiritual awakening can reduce or eliminate use.
But Dr. Ameisen, author of The End of my Addiction: how One Man Cured Himself of Alcoholism, says that baclofen, used off-label and in high doses, can cure all addictions, including alcohol, cocaine, heroin, smoking, bulimia and anorexia, compulsive shopping and gambling. It’s the muscle relaxant aspect of the medication. It loosens the hold of panic attacks and obsessive thinking.
The positive effects of baclofen on Dr. Ameisen were swift and specific: “It controlled my anxiety better than any of the standard anti-anxiety medications,” he told The Guardian. “It reduced my craving for alcohol and enabled me to remain abstinent for longer periods.” Eventually, “I was completely and effortlessly indifferent to it [alcohol].”
Dr. Ameisen is clearly a case of a highly motivated and engaged patient. the real test will be acceptance as part of treatment plans by the medical and substance abuse treatment communities.
Baclofen is slowly but surely gaining momentum and approval from the medical community. Dr. Ameisen’s proselytizing has built a network of believers among his fellow physicians, from notables at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to the McLean Hospital Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse of Harvard University.
In the most recent news from this month: A study out of Minnesota indicates that baclofen is effective in treating symptoms of alcohol withdrawal syndrome.
What do you think? will baclofen become a standard part of addiction treatment plans? Or not? What’s the cutting edge in addiction treatment for next year?