UVa researcher to appear on CNN

Seven years ago, Dr. Bankole Johnson theorized that medicinal treatment could help alcoholics beat their addiction. He just wasn’t sure what kind of drug would work.

He eventually zeroed in on Topiramate, a drug used to quell epileptic seizures and migraines in adults.

Johnson, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, published an article about his “theory” that a drug such as Topiramate could help with alcoholism.

He said the idea of treating alcoholism with a pill was met with a good deal of skepticism, but studies conducted by Johnson and other UVa researchers indicate that Topiramate can help alcoholics, said Johnson, who has published numerous articles on the research.

“For alcoholism, [Topiramate] has been really successful,” Johnson said Friday in a telephone interview from Costa Rica.

Because of his work, Johnson was interviewed for a program that will air this weekend on CNN. Medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta reported for the hour-long program, “Addiction: Life on the Edge.”

Johnson, who has conducted several other studies with Topiramate, said some consider such treatment radical.

Using a medicine like Topiramate, doctors would be able to immediately treat an alcoholic, he said, noting that addicts require psychological help along with medicine.

Though Topiramate is not yet approved for treating alcoholism, Johnson and his staff have also been conducting studies to see how it works with cocaine and methamphetamine treatment.

The multimillion-dollar studies are funded by the National Institutes of Health.

And Johnson is looking at ways to make Topiramate’s effectiveness even greater, by combining it with other drugs.

Johnson said he does not promote Topiramate, but wants “to make people aware of its benefits and let people make their own decisions.”

Johnson said a very low percentage of alcoholics are being treated with medications.

“A lot of people think you have to go to rehab and AA, and that’s not true,” he said.

Sixty percent of alcoholism is biological, the rest psychological, Johnson said.

In turn, treatment that combines medicine and counseling “is debunking a myth,” he said.

Critics of treating addiction with medicine say the approach simply trades one addiction for another.

Johnson doesn’t buy that, saying that “treatment medications do not have any addictive properties of their own.”

Adam Kegley agrees with Johnson’s take on treating drug addiction.

Kegley is the chief executive officer of Addiction Recovery Systems, which has an office on Pantops, as well as offices in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.

His clinic primarily treats people with opiate addiction, using a combination of medicine and counseling.

In the future, he said, treating addiction with medicines will be a “critical piece of helping people recover.”

Kegley is aware of Johnson’s work and sees promise in the approach.

“It is exciting that they’re finding medication for treatment,” he said.

Both men say addiction is a disease, much like diabetes, for instance. And, in turn, they said, addiction should be treated like a disease.

Johnson said he isn’t sure what angle the CNN show will take. It’s been a year since he was interviewed.

“I suppose it comes at an interesting time,” he said, noting the explosion of drug-related violence in Mexico and President Barack Obama’s visit to that country.

The show is scheduled to air at 8 and 11 tonight; 2 a.m. and 8 and 11 p.m. Sunday; and 2 a.m. Monday.