The new drug reportedly worked by controlling the results of stress, as behavioral stress was a major contributor to the "vicious cycle" of alcoholism.
Study author Markus Heilig of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse explained that depriving a person of alcohol would lead to depression and increased chances of succumbing to stress.
"Alcohol is a particularly nasty drug because it actually makes you feel better," Heilig explained, as quoted by AFP, "but it pushes you to feel worse once you're without alcohol."
He continued that the drug would control a person's responses to these effects of stress by targeting a particular part of the brain responsible for the reactions to stressful situations.
Pooling together a total of 50 recovering alcoholics, scientists gave the drug to 25 of them, and placebo pills to the other half.
Their experiment resulted in a 50 percent cut in the craving for alcohol for those who had been given the drug.
Heilig, a director at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, noted that while other studies regarding alcoholism aimed to reduce the pleasure derived from alcohol, their study attempted to reduce the effects of the actual causes of alcoholism.
"It's a fairly new approach to treating alcoholism treatment," Heilig said, as quoted by ABC News. "We're really trying to open up a new category of treatments that would help most people."
The study received commendations from other scientists, calling it a significant discovery.
"This is a potentially important finding which indicates a novel mechanism for reducing craving in individuals who drink to reduce high anxiety," said Boris Tabakoff, a professor and director at the University of Colorado and Denver.
The findings were published in the Tuesday issue of the journal Science.
