A Finnish placebo-controlled study found that the anti-craving drug nalmefene cut down on the number of heavy drinking days among alcoholics, the Health Behavior News Service reported July 3.

Study subjects who took the drug cut their average heavy drinking days from 15.5 per month to 8.9 to 9.3 per month over a three-month period. The placebo group reduced their heavy drinking from 16.2 days per month to 10.6 to 12 per month.

The nalmefene group took the drug when they felt a craving for alcohol. "It has a robust and sustained effect in reducing harmful heavy drinking in a large study population," said researcher Sakari Karhuvaara.

Karhuvaara said that the drug could be prescribed as a harm-reduction intervention by almost any doctor in many medical settings, not just addiction specialists in treatment programs.

The study, which was backed by Bioties Therapies Corp., which makes nalmefene, appears in the July 2007 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.