However, there already are three FDA-approved medications for alcoholism: disulfiram, naltrexone, and acamprosate. While probably not as effective at maintaining long-term abstinence as NBACs, they still provide benefits—yet they too are grossly underutilized.
These three drugs work in completely different ways, by the way.
Disulfiram gets the patient to stop drinking alcohol by causing the body to accumulate poisonous acetaldehyde — causing drunkenness to rapidly become a hangover.
Naltrexone is used in the Sinclair method, and works by suppressing the positive feelings (psychological reward) of drinking. Notably, Sinclair method patients are instructed to take naltrexone and then drink alcohol; the lack of reward trains the brain to not think of alcohol as pleasant anymore.
Acamprosate counteracts the downregulation of GABA receptors, making it less unpleasant to go without drinking.