A new study suggests that alcoholics should be given the Class B illegal narcotic, ketamine, in attempts to treat addiction.
Ketamine, a drug often used as a party drug under the name ‘special K’ is most often used as a horse tranquilliser by veterinarians.
Recent research has found that people with drastic alcohol addiction who were treated with low doses of the drug, along side psychological therapy were able to keep clear of alcohol for longer.
The trail from which this research originates is known as The Ketamine for reduction of Alcohol Relapse trial, or KARE. It was led be the University of Exeter after securing funding from the Medical Research Council.
The second phase of this trial is the first time the effects of ketamine in low doses have been examined when used to prevent people from relapsing into alcohol addiction when it is combined with therapy.
Biotech company AWAKN Life Sciences has collaborated with the University of Exeter in order to make use of the clinics available there.
AWAKN and the University of Exeter have also joined Devon Partnership NHS Trust to assess strategies of potentially introducing ketamine assisted psychotherapy into the NHS.
Preliminary evidence from the trial shows that the combination of controlled ketamine doses and therapy does reduce the number of people who relapse into alcohol following previous addiction.
Currently, there are few effective treatments for severe alcoholism.
The KARE trial was the first of its kind to compare the use of ketamine to treat alcoholic with and without the combination of psychotherapy in any context of mental health.
Over 180 days of the trial, the KARE team saw 87 per cent of individuals stay sober for 162 days in the follow-up period after the trial. This was significantly higher than any other group, presenting evidence that the combination of therapy and controlled ketamine doses could prevent individuals from alcohol relapse.
The group at hand were 2.5 times more likely to stay completely sober by the end of the trial than individuals who were on placebo treatment.
These findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.
The same research team did find evidence that a combination of ketamine and therapy may prevent any more drinking after six months, results here were more mixed.
It was also discovered that patients taking the low ketamine doses had lower depression for after three months in addition to better liver function than those in the trial who had received the placebo, albeit if it was combined with psychotherapy or not.
Professor Celia Morgan, the study’s lead author from the University of Exeter, told Metro that:
‘Alcoholism can destroy lives, and we urgently need new ways to help people cut down.
We found that controlled, low doses of ketamine combined with psychological therapy can help people stay off alcohol for longer than placebo.
‘This is extremely encouraging, as we normally see three out of every four people returning to heavy drinking within six months of quitting alcohol, so this result represents a great improvement.’
Before individuals took part in the trial, they were drinking every day, consuming 50 pints of strong beer on average per week. This works out as 125 units a week.
Participants of the trial who were given ketamine and therapy drank over the recommended guidelines on just 5 days of the 6-month trial period. This representation means the risk of death from any alcohol-related issues from 1 in eight, to one in 80.
Professor Morgan also said –
The number of alcohol-related deaths has doubled since the pandemic begun, meaning new treatments are needed more urgently than ever.
‘Previously, there were some concerns about using ketamine in alcoholics due to liver problems, but this study has shown that ketamine is safe and well-tolerated in clinical conditions.
‘In fact, we found liver function improved in the ketamine group due to them drinking much less alcohol.
‘This was a phase II clinical trial, meaning it’s conducted in people primarily to test how the safety and feasibility of the treatment.
‘We now have an early signal this treatment is effective. We now need a bigger trial to see if we can confirm these effects.
‘We’re certainly not advocating taking ketamine outside of a clinical context.
‘Street drugs come with obvious risks, and it’s the combination of a low dose of ketamine and the right psychological therapy that is key, as is the expertise and support of clinical staff.
‘This combination showed benefits still seen six months later, in a group of people for whom many existing treatments just don’t work.’
The co-author of this study, Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes from the Imperial College London, told the Metro that –
‘The KARE trial is a significant step towards investigating a new approach to meet the immense unmet treatment need associated with alcoholism.
‘The trial shows that ketamine therapy may be one way we’re able to reverse alcohol-related harms experienced by so many.’
Part of the research conducted during the KARE trials involved detailed interviews with trial participants where participants told researchers that experience helped change their relationship with alcohol.