Reversing cocaine addiction could become easier if a new therapy‚ proved to work in animal testing‚ achieves this impact on people’s brains.
"The antibody does not cure addiction and it is not a panacea‚ but rather a means to assist individuals who still face the very difficult task of beating addiction‚" said Dr Andrew Norman‚ the US researcher from the University of Cincinnati who developed it.
The human antibody gets injected into the bloodstream‚ attaches to cocaine and prevents it from entering the brain thereby limiting its effect on behaviour.
In other words‚ the user does not get the same high and the attraction to take the drug is diminished.
This antibody is specific to cocaine addiction and does not apply to other drugs popular among recreational users. Norman said the antibody assisted animals from relapsing back into cocaine addiction.
He hopes to test it on human volunteers within a year after the positive results so far from "molecule to mouse".
What the antibody does is stop cocaine from getting to the brain and producing its usual effects. This will help recovering users not to relapse‚ Norman noted.
"For an individual who has an intermittent relapse‚ the antibody will block the cocaine from getting to the brain and producing the high that addicts may crave‚" he said.
The antibody could be given in a dose that lasted at least 30 days.
"If this antibody works the way we believe it will in the body‚ then it gives clues as to how we should interpret drug effects in other addictive behaviors. There are projects in other laboratories around the country to develop vaccines against addictive drugs such as opioids."
TMG Digital/The Times
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