Topiramate for treatment of alcoholism?

Topiramate/Topamax is commonly used for epilepsy and for migraines. A new study suggests it may be effective in treating alcoholism as well. Here's the CNN article on the topic, and the JAMA article on it too. Though it didn't work for a ton of the study participants (all of whom were heavy drinkers/alcoholics) it did work for a statistically significant proportion of people. Overall drinking decreased in both arms. There are quite a few limits to the study, but it didn't sound like the manufacturer of Topamax, Ortho-McNeill, was interested in pursuing FDA approval for the drug, though they did fund this study. Just to be cynical, Topamax goes off patent next year, and according to the CNN article, they can't market Topamax for alcoholism unless it's FDA approved for the condition.

I thought it was interesting that they felt it was moving towards what Prozac did for depression, and give, in this case, alcoholics a more private way to deal with their illness, rather than entering rehab clinic to dry out. A couple limitations to the study as well: They only followed the patients for 14 weeks, the dose seemed a bit high and thus caused a high incidence of side effects, and, like smoking cessation, I'd really be interested to see this double blinded to included some behavioural modification/support with it as well. Interesting direction with treatment of alcoholism, we'll see where it leads.