Pharmacological interventions for alcohol use disorder: novel insights from recent clinical trials.
Expert review of clinical pharmacology February 3, 2026 Kaitlin R Mcmanus, Lara A Ray
A review of current and emerging treatments for alcohol use disorder (AUD), which affects 27.1 million U.S. adults, argues that existing medications have mixed efficacy and that a shift toward precision medicine—identifying subgroups most responsive to existing or combination pharmacotherapies—is needed. The review also synthesizes novel agents on the treatment horizon, including glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists, classic psychedelics, ketamine, immune modulators, and cannabinoids. Adopting precision medicine and these new compounds requires changes in healthcare systems, moving away from a one-size-fits-all model to improve cost-effectiveness and patient outcomes, though distribution challenges remain.