Disulfiram, history, controversies and their use today

Abstract

Alcoholism represents one of the great public health problems today, which is why it is essential to develop effective therapeutic strategies for the treatment of this pathology. A drug that has been on the market for more than six decades, disulfiram, has been indicated with uneven efficacy over the years, and often used incorrectly (high doses, lack of consent). Not free of potentially serious adverse effects, it finds a subpopulation where it can be highly effective and is also a useful tool because of its low cost in many countries where the other drugs (naltrexone and acamproxate) have non-viable values for many.