Medication Development for Protracted Abstinence in Alcohol Dependence and Related Substance Dependence Disorders
The focus of the research programs in the Division of Clinical Psychopharmacology is the clinical evaluation of potential medications for protracted abstinence and relapse prevention in alcohol dependence and related disorders such as nicotine and cannabis dependence. Research projects range from proof-of-concept early phase human laboratory studies to long-term, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical efficacy studies. A critical aspect of the conceptual framework under which the Division of Clinical Psychopharmacology is predicated is the dynamic feedback from the research findings of pre-clinical and clinical studies, which are designed to streamline information and provide converging evidence for ultimate clinical use. The critical conceptual framework is that the pre-clinical animal studies will inform the clinical laboratory studies, and the clinical laboratory studies will in turn inform the pre-clinical animal studies to further refine basic research involving animal models and the neuropharmacological approach. This approach has identified neuropharmacological domains that are currently being translated into long-term clinical efficacy studies.