In a new study by the University of Exeter in the UK, alcoholics will be given ketamine to see if it helps reduce heavy drinking.
These trials follow an earlier study that found promising results from ketamine combined with therapy. Furthermore, 86% continued to abstain from drinking in the six-month follow-up.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded the £2.4 million phase three trial to deliver the treatment across seven NHS sites in the UK. The trial will look at whether the ketamine and therapy package reduces harmful drinking. Two different groups will be tested: one with a tested dose of ketamine and therapy and one with a very low dose of ketamine and a seven-session education package about the harmful effects of alcohol.
Ketamine is a licensed medical drug used by medical professionals and veterinarians as an anesthetic and as a recreational dissociative drug. In 1999, Ketamine became a Schedule III non-narcotic in the United States under the Controlled Substances Act but has recently been studied for its effectiveness on treatment-resistance depression.
Ketamine has been researched in the United States by Florida State researchers and showed some promising results in curbing the desire to drink in rats. Check out the study below:
