BELO HORIZONTE, Oct 26 — Scientists in Brazil, the world’s second-biggest consumer of cocaine, have announced the development of an innovative new treatment for addiction to...
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Brazilian psychiatrist Frederico Garcia, associate professor in the Department of Mental Health of the Faculty of Medicine and researcher responsible in the development of Calixcoca, a vaccine for cocaine and crack addiction, ha vaccine vial, at the Federal University of Minas Gerais , in Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, on June 7, 2023.
The vaccine works by triggering patients’ immune systems to produce antibodies that bind to cocaine molecules in the bloodstream, making them too large to pass into the brain’s mesolimbic system, or “reward center,” where the drug normally stimulates high levels of pleasure-inducing dopamine. It also protected rat foetuses against cocaine, researchers found, suggesting it could be used in humans to protect the unborn babies of pregnant addicts.“There’s no specific registered treatment for cocaine and crack addiction. We currently use a combination of psychological counselling, social assistance and rehabilitation, when necessary,” he says.