Millions could cut down on Christmas boozing with a £3 pill dubbed the 'Ozempic of alcohol', according to experts.

The medicine, called naltrexone, limits the pleasure-signals being sent out by the brain after an alcoholic drink, which reduces the desire to consume more.

Research shows about four out of five people who take the tablet before consuming alcohol drastically reduce their intake or eliminate drinking altogether.

Just as weight-loss drugs, such a Ozempic and Mounjaro, reduce the craving for food, experts say naltrexone could be key in the fight against Britain's excessive festive consumption.

NHS guidelines advise no more than 14 units a week – roughly six pints of beer or ten small glasses of wine – yet a quarter of British adults regularly exceed this.

During December, two-thirds of Britons say they drink more than usual, leading to a spike in the number of people admitted to hospital for alcohol-related problems.

Naltrexone can be purchased privately for about £100 a month – but many users end up saving money by not buying alcohol.

However, some experts have called on the NHS to allow GPs to prescribe naltrexone to millions of patients who regularly binge drink. Currently, it is reserved for alcoholics.

 'This pill has been shown to reduce drinking so much more effectively than other therapies, like counselling and rehabilitation, and yet many GPs have never heard of it,' says Dr Janey Merron, an alcohol specialist at the Sinclair Method UK clinic. 'It's really devastating for the vast number of people who are missing out.'

Nearly a fifth of British adults admit to binge drinking in the past week – defined as consuming more than eight units in a single session.

More than 320,000 people are admitted to hospital each year with alcohol-related conditions, and over 10,000 die – mostly from liver disease.

Deaths linked to alcohol have risen steadily since the pandemic, reaching a record high last year. Regular drinking is also a known risk factor for several cancers.

Experts say naltrexone could help mitigate much of this damage. The medication itself isn't new. In fact, it's been available on the NHS since the 1980s.

It works by blocking brain receptors where alcohol attaches so that the pleasurable buzz of drinking is reduced. 

By reducing that effect, the brain 'unlearns' the link between alcohol and the production of feel-good chemicals that spark addiction and the urge to reach for a drink in the first place. 

Studies show, when taken an hour before drinking, naltrexone has close to an 80 per cent success rate at getting users to drastically reduce or eliminate drinking altogether.

In comparison, rehabilitation methods – with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) being the most widely used – yield success rates of less than 15 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation.

Clinics usually offer the tablet alongside talking therapy and lifestyle advice. Within six months to a year, Dr Merron claims, most patients have reduced their drinking significantly – and, most importantly, don't feel compelled to drink too much even when they do have the rare tipple.

'At that point, your brain is basically reprogrammed to how it was before you ever started drinking in the first place,' says Dr Merron. 'So most people just aren't interested in drinking at all.'

Not all experts agree, however, that naltrexone should be handed out by GPs.

'Most GPs don't have any experience with naltrexone,' says Dr Dean Eggitt, a Doncaster-based GP. 'You'd need to train them up to use it and offer psychological support. It's not a simple process.

'And that would be on top of the millions of other things GPs are expected to do.'

However, Dr Merron argues the current NHS approach focuses too much on treating serious alcoholics and often ignores the millions of people who drink dangerous amounts but are not obviously addicted.

'My average patient isn't who you might think of when you picture an alcoholic,' she says.

'Many people who have an issue with drinking are high-functioning – often professionals, such as lawyers or bankers, or stressed mothers.

'Naltrexone should be available to treat anyone for whom alcohol has become a problem.'

This was the case for East Midlands-based Katie, 37, who has asked us not to use her surname.

It was just after the birth of her second child that Katie – who runs her business from home, as well as homeschooling her children – began drinking frequently.

'I was drinking every night for weeks straight,' she says. 'And it was impacting my family.'

Desperate for a solution, Katie found the Sinclair Method, and naltrexone, while researching online. Now a couple of months into using the drug, she says it has been miraculous.

'It's doing something to my brain, I'm already drinking less, having far more sober days, and feel more mindful when I do drink,' she adds. 'Looking back to where I was, I can hardly recognise myself now.'