Former Government drugs advisor Professor David Nutt said that his team are on the verge of creating a drug that mimics all the positive effects of being drunk without any of the health risks, addiction - or hangovers.
The new drug targets neurotransmitters in the brain directly, giving the user pleasure and disinhibition that are in some cases "indistinguishable" from the effects of drinking, Independent reported.
However, as it acts directly, it can be immediately blocked by taking an antidote - with "drinkers" potentially able to then drive or return to work straight away.
But Nutt, one of the country's leading neuropsychopharmacologists, said that he and his team at Imperial College London have hit a stumbling block, as no one in the drinks industry is willing to fund the development of the drug.
He claimed that one of the biggest benefits of his alcohol substitute will be to remove addiction as a drinking problem.
Nutt said that 10 percent of drinkers become addicted, and that addicts account for most of the one and a half million people killed by alcohol every year.
He added that that the drug could be taken in the form of a range of cocktails.