Varenicline and Alcohol in Inpatient Addictions Program (IAP)

• Continuous alcohol abstinence [ Time Frame: Two years ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  No consumption of alcohol (not even a single drink) during the specified interval of time. This will be a self-reported outcome.
  
  
• Heavy drinking days [ Time Frame: Two years ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Number of drinking days > 5 drinks/day for men and > 4 drink/day for women. This will be a self-reported outcome.
  
  

• 7-day point prevalence smoking abstinence [ Time Frame: Two years ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Negative response to the question, "Have you used any type of tobacco, even a puff, in the past 7 days." This will be a self-reported outcome biochemically-confirmed with exhaled-air carbon monoxide (CO) < 8 parts per million (ppm) during the medication phase.
  
  
• Prolonged smoking abstinence [ Time Frame: Two years ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

  Self-reported all tobacco abstinence since two weeks after target quit date (TQD) which will be during their 28-day stay in the IAP on day 8 of varenicline therapy. Negative response to the question, "Have you used any type of tobacco, even a puff, for 7 consecutive days or at least once each week on two consecutive weeks since xx/xx/xxxx?" Note: xx/xx/xxxx corresponds to the date two weeks after the target quit date (TQD).

  Biochemically-confirmed abstinence at the visit for which prolonged abstinence is being obtained.

  
  
• Tolerability [ Time Frame: Two years ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  Tolerability will be defined by the number of adverse events experienced by patients.
  
  

The goal of this proposal is to explore the potential efficacy of varenicline for reducing alcohol consumption among alcohol-dependent cigarette smokers. The hypothesis for the current study is that 24 weeks of varenicline will increase alcohol abstinence rates among smokers and decrease alcohol consumption among patients receiving inpatient addiction treatment for alcoholism. The investigators will also explore whether varenicline has a beneficial effect on tobacco abstinence rates in this population of tobacco users.

The investigators will conduct an open-label pilot study to determine clinical efficacy and employ neuroimaging techniques to evaluate how glutamate and other brain metabolites correlate to measures of alcohol craving severity and/or subsequent varenicline treatment response. The investigators will enroll 20 subjects receiving treatment in the Mayo Clinic Inpatient Addictions Program (IAP) and compare outcomes with patients participating in a similar 6-month open-label study of acamprosate.

The Primary aims of this study are:

1. To obtain preliminary evidence of efficacy of varenicline (0.5 mg once daily for 3 days, 0.5 mg twice daily for days 4-7, 1 mg twice a day for remaining 23 weeks) for increasing continuous alcohol abstinence rates at 3 and 6 months among patients with alcohol and tobacco dependence who have completed treatment at the Mayo Clinic IAP.
2. To obtain preliminary evidence of efficacy of varenicline (0.5 mg once daily for 3 days, 0.5 mg twice daily for days 4-7, 1 mg twice a day for remaining 23 weeks) for decreasing the number of heavy drinking days (> 5 drinks/day for men and > 4 drink/day for women) at 3 and 6 months among patients with alcohol and tobacco dependence who have completed treatment at the Mayo Clinic IAP.
3. To obtain preliminary data on baseline and baseline to endpoint change in CSF volume corrected concentrations of the dorsal striatal glutamate, glutamate + glutamine, and NAA measures through MR spectroscopy before and after 30 days of varenicline treatment among patients with alcohol and tobacco dependence who have completed treatment at the Mayo Clinic IAP.

Secondary aims:

1. To obtain preliminary evidence of efficacy of varenicline (0.5 mg once daily for 3 days, 0.5 mg twice daily for days 4-7, 1 mg twice a day for remaining 23 weeks) for increasing the 7-day point prevalence smoking abstinence rates and prolonged smoking abstinence at 3 and 6 months among patients with alcohol and tobacco dependence who have completed treatment at the Mayo Clinic IAP.
2. To assess the tolerability of varenicline (0.5 mg once daily for 3 days, 0.5 mg twice daily for days 4-7, 1 mg twice a day for remaining 23 weeks).