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Cocaine vaccine progresses in reducing addiction

Research on an anti-cocaine vaccine shows that users reduced cocaine use in 38 percent of people vaccinated with it. The study undertaken by Yale researchers in America and funded by the National Institutes of Health appears in the latest issue of the journal of General Psychiatry. It examines cocaine addiction from a purely medical standpoint. Like vaccines that fight infectious diseases, an inoculation against cocaine stimulates the body to produce antibodies, the study states. The antibodies bind themselves to cocaine molecules in the blood and prevent them from allow the drug to enter into the brain.

The study randomly assigned 115 people to receive the cocaine vaccine or a placebo over 12 weeks. Since a minority of people developed antibodies, researchers think a booster shot might help increase the response. An effective vaccine could make huge inroads in the fight against drug addiction. Some 2.5 million Americans are dependent on cocaine, but only about 800,000 of them receive treatment, according to the paper.

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