This study illustrates the potential of VAR to reduce alcohol intake during reaccess to alcohol following alcohol deprivation but potential limitations should be considered when translating the findings. First, the subject population was rats selectively bred for high voluntary alcohol intake (alcohol-preferring or P rats). Therefore, the findings may be more relevant for individuals who are genetically predisposed toward alcohol drinking, that is, people with a family history of alcoholism (family history positive or FHP), than for the general population (for review see Begleiter and Porjesz, 1990; Porjesz and Begleiter, 1991; Rice et al., 1995). Second, side effects are a potential limitation of any medication used to treat AUD. While VAR does not have side effects that are as extensive as are those of antibuse, side effects do exist (headache, nausea, insomnia) (Drovandi et al., 2016) and are relatively comparable to those of other drugs approved for the treatment of AUD such as naltrexone (Srisurapanont and Jarusuraisin, 2005) and acamprosate (Carmen et al., 2004). Early reports of VAR-induced altered behavior, which resulted in a 2015 FDA warning regarding the use
