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Aurora, UWM "combine" for alcoholism research

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Researchers at Aurora Behavioral Health Services and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee have united for an extended, federally funded study of treatment for problem drinkers. The study, called Project COMBINE, will center on "talk" therapies and two prescription medications, alone and in combination, to improve recovery rates for alcoholics.

Project COMBINE, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), involves Milwaukee and ten other study sites, including Yale University, Brown University, Boston University, the University of Washington, and Harvard. Milwaukee is the only Midwestern site for the study.

Encouraged by the mounting number of drug studies that point to more successful treatment of alcoholism using medications, the NIAAA has launched COMBINE to test two of the most promising medications, acomprosate and naltrexone, and find whether their good results are even better when combined with each other or with certain "talk" therapies.

The study is under the direction of Professor Allen Zweben of UWM and the Center for Addiction and Behavioral Health Research (CABHR), and Dr. Lance Longo, a psychiatrist and addictionologist with Aurora Behavioral Health Services and Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee. CABHR is a collaboration of public and private Milwaukee entities.

Dr. Longo cautions that "there never will be a ‘magic pill' for alcoholism, but for some people, medication may be an additional ‘piece of the pie' of recovery."

The partnership between the two organizations is an important element, Dr. Longo says. "We are very fortunate to have developed this collaboration. The unique mix of researchers and clinicians highlights our mission to transfer state of the art research findings to the real world of clinical practice."

For information on participating in the project, contact the CABHR research unit at Aurora Sinai Medical Center, 414-219-3509.