Guidelines for biological treatment of substance use and related disorders, part 1: Alcoholism, first revision

Abstract

These practice guidelines for the biological treatment of alcohol use disorders are an update of the first edition, published in 2008, which was developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). For this 2016 revision, we performed a systematic review (MEDLINE/PUBMED database, Cochrane Library) of all available publications pertaining to the biological treatment of alcoholism and extracted data from national guidelines. The Task Force evaluated the identified literature with respect to the strength of evidence for the efficacy of each medication and subsequently categorised it into six levels of evidence (A–F) and five levels of recommendation (1–5). Thus, the current guidelines provide a clinically and scientifically relevant, evidence-based update of our earlier recommendations. These guidelines are intended for use by clinicians and practitioners who evaluate and treat people with alcohol use disorders and are primarily concerned with the biological treatment of adults with such disorders.

Keywords:

• Alcoholism
• pharmacotherapy
• acamprosate
• baclofen
• naltrexone
• nalmefene
• topiramate
• carbamazepine
• disulfiram
• ondansetron
• benzodiazepine

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Jacquie Klesing, Board-certified Editor in the Life Sciences (ELS), for editorial assistance with the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

For the past five years, Prof Soyka has received research support and/or served as a consultant to Mepha, Lundbeck, Reckitt Benckiser/Indivior, Mundipharma and Sanofi-Aventis.

Prof Kranzler has been an advisory board member, consultant, or continuing medical education speaker for Indivior, Lundbeck, and Otsuka. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology’s Alcohol Clinical Trials Initiative, which is sponsored by AbbVie, Alkermes, Ethypharm, Indivior, Lilly, Lundbeck, Pfizer, and Xenoport.

Prof Hesselbrock has no financial conflicts of interest to declare.

In the last five years, Prof. Möller has received honoraria for lectures or consultancy fees from Lundbeck, Janssen, Otsuka, Servier and Schwabe.

Additional information

Funding

Dr. Kranzler’s contribution to the manuscript was supported by grants AA021164 and AA023192 from the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. [AA023192].