The prevalence of AUD (or alcohol dependence in DSM-IV parlance) has increased in the last decade in the general population of United States adults, 18 years of age or older. Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) reported that the DSM-IV 12-month and lifetime prevalence rates in 2001–2002 increased from 8.5% to 30.3%, respectively to 12.7% and 43.6% in 2012 through 2013, respectively (Grant et al., 2015). Despite the increase in AUD over the last decade, many individuals never seek or receive evidence-based treatments. The major reasons are due to fears of stigmatization and the surprisingly still commonly held belief that alcohol dependence is not a medical condition that can be effectively treated with medications or behavioral therapies (Cohen et al., 2007). This situation amounts to a clear treatment exigency that is only exacerbated by the limited number of approved and effective pharmacotherapies that currently exist for alcohol dependence. One promising avenue to ameliorate the treatment gap would be to provide many novel pharmacotherapies that have diverse mechanisms of action that are well-tolerated and effective.
