24.12.2012
A new drug curbing alcohol addiction is to appear in Ireland the upcoming year. Selincor, the name of a drug, is based on blocking opioid receptors responsible for euphoria, depression and drug addiction. Nalmephene causes rejection to opioids and blocks euphoria from drinking alcohol. As a result, addiction disappears.
European agency for medicine approved Selincor for distribution in global pharmaceutical market but first marketing authorization by European Commission needs to be issued. It is noteworthy saying that no side effects of drugs when tested were found out. Moreover, alcohol addiction 2.5 thousand patients that underwent tests reduced to 44% in a month, and to 60% in half a year.
Each year Ireland spends over 4 billion euros on fighting alcohol addiction. Ireland is among the countries to lead in consuming alcohol in EU. More than 30% of teenagers drink at least three times a month. Ten thousand pedestrians died of car accident caused by alcohol inebriation, two thousand deaths are related to alcohol addiction problems. Sixty thousand preterm infants, from five to nine million children living in families below poverty line.
