Trial reportPsychopharmacology2014
Varenicline effects on drinking, craving and neural reward processing among non-treatment-seeking alcohol-dependent individuals.
Trial report in Psychopharmacology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- The role of nicotinic receptors in alcohol consumption.Pharmacological research · 2023Pooled it
- Efficacy of Varenicline in the Treatment of Alcohol Dependence: An Updated Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- The Use of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Test Pharmacotherapies for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Systematic Review.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2019Pooled it
- Varenicline as a treatment for cannabis use disorder: A placebo-controlled pilot trial.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Trial
- Effects of topiramate on neural responses to alcohol cues in treatment-seeking individuals with alcohol use disorder: preliminary findings from a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Trial
- Effects of Alcohol Cue Reactivity on Subsequent Treatment Outcomes Among Treatment-Seeking Individuals with Alcohol Use Disorder: A Multisite Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Varenicline.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2020Trial
- Effect of Varenicline Combined with High-Dose Alcohol on Craving, Subjective Intoxication, Perceptual Motor Response, and Executive Cognitive Function in Adults with Alcohol Use Disorders: Preliminary Findings.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2016Trial
- The Effect of Varenicline on the Neural Processing of Fearful Faces and the Subjective Effects of Alcohol in Heavy Drinkers.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2016Trial
- Effects of Varenicline on Neural Correlates of Alcohol Salience in Heavy Drinkers.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2015Trial
- The alcohol cue-exposure paradigm as a screening tool for alcohol use disorder medication development: A critical review.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Review
- Dissociation of self and mother-related processing in abstinent heroin misusers.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Alcohol effects on associative and sensorimotor cortico-thalamo-basal ganglia circuits alter decision making and alcohol intake.Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) · 2025Review
- High hopes? Precision psychedelic addiction medicine.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Reductions in WHO risk drinking levels correlate with alcohol craving among individuals with alcohol use disorder.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2024Article
- Neural mechanisms linked to treatment outcomes and recovery in substance-related and addictive disorders.Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · 2023Review
- Combined varenicline and naltrexone attenuates alcohol cue-elicited activation in heavy drinking smokers.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Article
- Review of Orbitofrontal Cortex in Alcohol Dependence: A Disrupted Cognitive Map?Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2020Review
- Ibudilast for alcohol use disorder: study protocol for a phase II randomized clinical trial.Trials · 2020Article
- Design of a randomized controlled trial of smoking cessation medications for alcohol reduction among HIV-positive heavy drinkers and daily smokers in St. Petersburg, Russia.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2020Article
- Differential patterns of alcohol and nicotine intake: Combined alcohol and nicotine binge consumption behaviors in mice.Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleThe α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist varenicline has been reported to reduce drinking among both heavy-drinking smokers and primary alcoholics, and this effect may be related to varenicline-mediated reduction of alcohol craving. Among smokers, varenicline has been reported to modulate cigarette cue-elicited brain activation in several reward-related areas.
objectivesThis pilot study tested varenicline's effects on drinking, alcohol craving, and alcohol cue-elicited activation of reward-related brain areas among non-treatment-seeking alcohol-dependent individuals.
methodsThirty-five such individuals (mean age = 30, 57 % male, 76 % heavy drinking days in the past month, 15 smokers) were randomized to either varenicline (titrated to 2 mg) or placebo for 14 days, and were administered an alcohol cue reactivity fMRI task on day 14. A priori regions of interest (ROIs) were bilateral and medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), right ventral striatum (VS), and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC).
resultsDespite good medication adherence, varenicline did not reduce heavy drinking days or other drinking parameters. It did, however, increase self-reported control over alcohol-related thoughts and reduced cue-elicited activation bilaterally in the OFC, but not in other brain areas.
conclusionsThese data indicate that varenicline reduces alcohol craving and some of the neural substrates of alcohol cue reactivity. However, varenicline effects on drinking mediated by cue-elicited brain activation and craving might be best observed among treatment-seekers motivated to reduce their alcohol consumption.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.