---
title: "Psych News Alert: Naltrexone May Help Alcohol-Dependent Smokers"
description: Cigarette smoking predicts more severe alcohol dependence and poorer addiction treatment response. Yet a medication used to treat alcohol de...
image: https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/whiskey%20and%20cigarettes_71971888-Jun-24-2025-07-14-42-7426-PM.jpg
---

 5/14/12 12:00 AM

# Naltrexone May Help Alcohol-Dependent Smokers

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [ Psychiatric News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert)

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[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/whiskey%20and%20cigarettes_71971888-Jun-24-2025-07-14-41-8274-PM.jpg?width=200&height=157&name=whiskey%20and%20cigarettes_71971888-Jun-24-2025-07-14-41-8274-PM.jpg)](https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/whiskey%20and%20cigarettes_71971888-Jun-24-2025-07-14-43-7869-PM.jpg) 

Cigarette smoking predicts more severe alcohol dependence and poorer addiction treatment response. Yet a medication used to treat alcohol dependence—naltrexone—might benefit alcohol-dependent individuals who smoke, a study published online April 30 in *Biological Psychiatry *suggests.

The study cohort included some 1,400 alcohol-dependent individuals, more than half of whom also smoked. At the end of the 16-week trial, alcohol-dependent subjects who smoked and who received naltrexone had better outcomes than alcohol-dependent subjects who smoked and who received a placebo. Alcohol-dependent, nonsmoking subjects who received naltrexone did not have better outcomes than alcohol-dependent, nonsmoking subjects who got a placebo.

In yet another study, the addition of gabapentin to naltrexone improved drinking outcomes over naltrexone alone in 150 alcohol-dependent subjects. For more information about this study, see *[Psychiatric News](http://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/newsarticle.aspx?articleid=115827) .*

(image: grynold/Shutterstock.com)

 

[smoking](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/smoking), [naltrexone](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/naltrexone), [alcohol](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/alcohol), [drinking](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/drinking), [gabapentin](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/gabapentin)

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