CTV Edmonton - Cocaine vaccine offers hope to addicts - CTV News: "vaccine shown to block cocaine from entering the brains of drug-addicted mice could offer hope to human addicts struggling to kick their habit.
Addiction medicine specialists have long been limited in their ability to help cocaine addicts because there is no effective medication specifically created for cocaine dependency. Addicts are typically treated instead with behavioral therapies and 12-step programs.
This vaccine goes at the problem from a different perspective: by tapping into the body's own immune system.
The vaccine is combination of a common cold virus and particles of substance that mimics the molecular composition of cocaine.
In a study released this week, researchers found that mice given the vaccine appear to mount an effective antibody immune response that helps their bodies stop cocaine from actually reaching the brain.
If the vaccine works as well in people as it does in mice, it could become the first treatment of its kind to help cocaine addicts -- and perhaps one day, heroin, alcohol and even nicotine addicts as well."
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Sunday 9 January 2011
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