Medicine: Against the Bottle

About the time disulfiram (Antabuse) was hailed by Danish doctors as a wonder drug for alcoholism, plant physicians began hearing complaints that workers recently exposed to dust in the manufacture of calcium cyanamide*could not take a drink—it made them sick. Disulfiram proved a disappointment: it was too dangerous for widespread use, required a doctor’s close supervision. But last week a medicinal variant of cyanamide was released in Canada for prescription sale, on the strength of researchers’ reports that it is almost as potent as disulfiram and far safer.

Trade-named Temposil by Lederle Laboratories, it is citrated calcium carbimide (CCC). A single tablet sensitizes the patient so fast that if he takes a drink within as little as ten minutes he will feel flushed and short of breath, and get a headache—all severely enough to make him turn against the bottle. Unlike disulfiram, CCC rarely causes vomiting, a marked drop in blood pressure, or other undesirable side effects. But the effects of CCC usually wear off faster, so if the alcoholic misses his medicine for a couple of days, he may fall off the wagon.

After more testing, Lederle expects to apply to the Food and Drug Administration to have Temposil released in the U.S.

*Used as a fertilizer, also in steel-hardening and other industrial processes.