Addiction Medicine: Closing the Gap between Science and Practice

Table 5.1

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Approved and Promising Pharmaceutical Therapies and

the Types of Substances They Address

Type of Medicationa 93 Addiction
Involving
Alcohol

Addiction

Involving

Nicotine

Addiction

Involving

Cocaine

Addiction

Involving

Opioids

Addiction
Involving
Marijuana
Reduce Craving/
Withdrawal Symptoms
Acamprosate (Campral) X
Bupropion (Zyban,
Wellbutrin)

X

Nortriptyline (Pamelor,

Aventyl)

X*

Clonidine (Catapres) X*

Baclofen (Kemstro,

Lioresal, Gablofen)

X*

Ondansetron (Zofran) X* X*

Gabapentin (Fanatrex,

Gabarone, Gralise,

Neurontin)

X*

Reward Reduction^
Disulfiram (Antabuse) X
Naltrexone (ReVia,
Depade, Vivitrol)

X X

Varenicline (Chantix) X

Modafinil (Provigil,

Alertec, Modavigil)

X*

Topiramate (Topamax) X X
Vaccines X X
Maintenance/Medication-
Assisted Therapies
Nicotine Replacement
Therapy (NRT)

X

Methadone X

Buprenorphine/Naloxone

(Subutex, Suboxone)

X

Oral Tetrahydrocannabinol

(THC)

X*

a Some of these medications are FDA-approved for treating addiction involving the particular substance, while

others are not. Specifically, the X indicates the type of substance for which the medication has demonstrated
efficacy and has received FDA-approval for use in the treatment of addiction involving the noted substance. The
X* notation indicates that ongoing research is demonstrating promising clinical utility for the medication or
research already has demonstrated clinical utility for the medication in treating addiction involving the noted
substance, but these medications are not (yet) approved by the FDA for use as a pharmaceutical treatment for
addiction involving that particular substance. Medications that have been approved by the FDA for other purposes
can be prescribed off- label (for uses other than that for which it received FDA approval) based on clinical
evidence. However, in spite of clinical evidence of efficacy, these medications may never receive FDA approval
since adding new indications to a medication’s FDA-approved label would necessitate significant investments in
FDA-required studies.^94