An assessment of the utilization of the preclinical rodent model literature in clinical trials of putative therapeutics for the treatment of alcohol use disorders.

OBJECTIVE

Rodent models of Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) are used extensively by preclinical researchers to develop new therapeutics for the treatment of AUD. Although these models play an important role in the development of novel, targeted therapeutics, their role in bringing therapeutics to clinical trials is unclear, as off-label use of existing medications not approved for the treatment of AUD is commonly seen in the clinic and clinical trials.

METHOD

In the current study, we used the Clinicaltrials.gov database to obtain a list of drugs that have been tested for efficacy in a clinical trial between 1997 and 2017. We then conducted a set of literature searches to determine which of the 98 unique drugs we identified had shown efficacy in a rodent model of an AUD prior to being tested in a clinical trial.

RESULTS

We found that slightly less than half of the drugs tested in clinical trials (48%) had shown prior efficacy in any rodent model of an AUD, while the remaining 52% of drugs were used off-label, or in some cases, following non-published studies.

CONCLUSION

This study raises the question of how clinical researchers incorporate results from preclinical studies in the decision to bring a drug to a clinical trial. Our results underscore the need for ongoing communication among preclinical and clinical researchers.