Inhibiting the addictive effects of cocaine or crack in order to prolong abstinence for users who have difficulty quitting smoking: this is the aim of “Calixcoca”, a promising therapeutic vaccine developed by Brazilian scientists.
This project last week won a €500,000 prize from the pharmaceutical company Eurofarma, which aims to fund innovative solutions with “high impact” in the healthcare sector.
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This is not a miracle cure for cocaine intended for the entire population. Unlike preventive vaccines, which are designed to prevent diseases from entering the body, therapeutic vaccines are used to treat existing health problems.
Calixcoca “helps addicted people produce antibodies that prevent the drug from acting on the brain,” explains psychiatrist Frederico Garcia, coordinator of this project led by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG).
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Specifically, this vaccine aims to block the feeling of pleasure that cocaine produces when it acts on an area of the brain known as the “reward circuit.”
By interrupting this cycle, which leads to compulsive consumption and therefore addiction, “the chances” of prolonging the abstinence of those who want to quit smoking increase, explains the researcher.
In animal studies, scientists observed significant production of these anti-addiction antibodies and few side effects.
The vaccine also had positive effects on mouse fetuses. This could help treat pregnant women suffering from addiction problems to cocaine or its derivatives such as crack.
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Similar research projects were carried out in the United States, but failed due to, among other things, inadequate results in human clinical trials that are soon to begin in Brazil.
“No panacea”
“Calixcoca” is the first project of its kind in Latin America. “If clinical tests show that it is effective and if it is approved by the health authority Anvisa, it will be the first anti-cocaine and even anti-drug vaccine in the world to be used as a medicine,” assures Frederico Garcia .
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Unlike other vaccines that use biological components, the antigen, the substance that triggers the immune response to form antibodies, is made from chemical components developed in the laboratory. With two advantages: the production costs are lower and the cold chain does not have to be maintained during transport.
“There is still no specific approved (drug) treatment to combat cocaine or crack addiction. Today we offer patients psychological care, social assistance and, if necessary, detoxification treatments,” explains the psychiatrist.
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The vaccine would complement these multidisciplinary strategies and, for example, help prevent immediate relapses after a treatment stay.
Even if clinical tests are conclusive, it is “not a panacea”: “Calixcoca” is intended for patients “who are in abstinence and are determined to remain so,” he emphasizes.
Frederico Garcia’s team hopes to help reverse the trend of “sad statistics.”
According to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), one in four regular cocaine users becomes addicted. And only a quarter of patients who want to free themselves from this addiction succeed in doing so after five years of treatment.
Expectations surrounding “Calixcoca” are high in Brazil, the second largest cocaine-consuming country in the world after the USA: More than 3,000 people have already volunteered for clinical tests.