Belo Horizonte (Brazil) (AFP) – A vaccine that inhibits the effects of cocaine and crack and helps users leave the vicious cycle of drugs: this is what a team of Brazilian scientists is looking for with “Calixcoca” , a promising therapeutic alternative in development.
First modification: 10/26/2023 – 14:44
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Last week, the project won 500,000 euros from the Euro Innovation in Health Latin America award, financed by the pharmaceutical company Eurofarma to promote innovative and “high-impact” solutions in the health area.
“It is a therapeutic vaccine. Its function is to help the chemical addict produce antibodies that attach to the drug and prevent it from entering the brain,” explains psychiatrist Frederico Garcia, project coordinator at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). .
In practice, the vaccine seeks to block the rewarding sensation that cocaine causes when it activates the region of the brain known as the “reward area.”
By breaking this cycle that leads to drug compulsion, the vaccine “increases the chances” that addicts who want to remain abstinent will be able to do so, Garcia explains.
In animal trials, prior to the next stage with humans, researchers observed significant production of antibodies against cocaine and few side effects.
In addition, the vaccine protected rat fetuses from cocaine, a result that, if replicated in humans, could help in the treatment of pregnant women with addiction problems.
Psychiatrist Frederico Garcia works on the creation of the vaccine that inhibits the effects of cocaine and crack, on June 7, 2023 at the Federal University of Minas Gerais © Douglas Magno / AFP
Although there were already similar research projects in the United States, they did not continue due to insufficient results in clinical trials, among other reasons listed by Garcia.
It will not be a “panacea”
“Calixcoca” is the first project of this type in Latin America and “if the clinical trials show that the vaccine is effective and obtains registration with Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency), it would be the first anti-cocaine and anti-drug vaccine in the world used as medicine,” says García.
Because it is made from chemical compounds designed in the laboratory (vs. biological compounds from other vaccines), the antigen would also be less expensive to produce, and would not require a cold chain for transportation.
“There is no specific registered treatment for cocaine or crack dependence. Today psychological approaches, social assistance and eventually hospitalization are used,” explains the psychiatrist.
The vaccine, which would act as an “adjuvant” to these multidisciplinary strategies, could, for example, help dependents avoid immediate relapses after leaving rehabilitation centers, one of the most critical phases of the process.
But even if it works, the vaccine would not be a “panacea” to be administered to any user, Garcia warns.
The target audience, which will be defined more precisely after clinical trials, are in principle those patients “in abstinence, who are motivated to continue abstinence.”
The objective is to contribute to changing a “sad statistic,” says Garcia.
According to data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in the United States, it is estimated that one in four regular users becomes dependent.
And only one in four manages to quit the habit after five years in treatment.
That is why in Brazil, the second largest consumer of cocaine after the United States, expectations surrounding “Calixcoca” are high: more than 3,000 people have already contacted Garcia’s team to volunteer in the trials.
© 2023 AFP
2023-10-26 12:44:12
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