Pill to cut alcohol dependency available on NHS

A pill that suppresses the urge to consume alcohol will be available on prescription for people who think they drink too much from today.

A pill deigned to reduce the desire to drink alcohol is now available on the NHS

Experts claim Nalmefene, also called Selincro, lessens the desire to drink alcohol and can be prescribed alongside counselling support.

Formal guidance recommending the drug has been published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and means patients can now request Nalmefene if they meet the necessary requirements.

Suitable candidates will be people who regularly drink high quantities of alcohol, which is defined by the World Health Organisation as 7.5 units a day for men and five units a day for women.

The medication is designed to help patients reduce their consumption at a gradual pace, but is not suitable for those with extreme alcohol dependency.

Proced at £3, the pill can be taken up to once a day when patients wish to keep their alcohol urges at bay.

“It is much like a patch that you might wear to give up smoking, to support you to cut down on your alcohol intake,” said Lyndsey Dudley, a spokesman for NICE. “Some days you might feel stronger than others.”

It is expected that 35,000 people will be prescribed Nalmefene in the coming year, based on estimations that 58,000 people will receive psychosocial intervention for mild alcohol dependency.

However, figures released yesterday for Scotland – where Nalmefne was made available last October – showed just 53 people were given the medication in 2013/2014.

“Nalmefene is for people who are concerned about their drinking, have tried to cut down, have been given brief advice/counselling by their doctor and are still regularly drinking more than low-risk levels,” said professor Jonathan Chick, a medical advisor for Drinkaware.

“The risks start at 14 units per week for women and 21 for men, but patients who will be prescribed Nalmefene will be drinking higher amounts than that, and will have provoked changes in their brain patters which have led to difficulty controlling their drink.”