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Researchers work on cocaine vaccine!

POSTED BY: CREVANREAVER
UPDATED: Thursday, January 3, 2008 03:26
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Wednesday, January 2, 2008 6:25 AM

CREVANREAVER


Here's some really interesting news:

Quote:

Two Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Houston are working on a cocaine vaccine they hope will become the first-ever medication to treat people hooked on the drug. "For people who have a desire to stop using, the vaccine should be very useful," said Dr. Tom Kosten, a psychiatry professor who is being assisted in the research by his wife, Therese, a psychologist and neuroscientist. "At some point, most users will give in to temptation and relapse, but those for whom the vaccine is effective won't get high and will lose interest."

The vaccine, currently in clinical trials, stimulates the immune system to attack the real thing when it's taken.

The immune system — unable to recognize cocaine and other drug molecules because they are so small — can't make antibodies to attack them.

To help the immune system distinguish the drug, Kosten attached inactivated cocaine to the outside of inactivated cholera proteins.

In response, the immune system not only makes antibodies to the combination, which is harmless, but also recognizes the potent naked drug when it's ingested. The antibodies bind to the cocaine and prevent it from reaching the brain, where it normally would generate the highs that are so addictive.

"It's a very clever idea," says David Eagleman, a Baylor neuroscientist. "Scientists have spent the last few decades figuring out reward pathways in the brain and how drugs like cocaine hijack the system. It turns out those pathways are difficult to rewire once they've seen the drug. But the vaccine just circumvents all that."

Kosten asked the Food and Drug Administration in December to green-light a multi-institutional trial to begin in the spring and is awaiting a response.

Approval would mark a breakthrough in the treatment of cocaine addiction, which now mostly involves psychiatric counseling and 12-step programs. It presumably would be the final clinical hurdle before the vaccine — more than a decade in the making — might be approved for treatment. But one expert warns against expecting too much.

"Addiction vaccines are a promising advance, but it's unlikely any treatment in this field will work for everyone," said Dr. David Gorelick, a senior investigator at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "Still, if they prove successful, they will give those working in drug addiction an important option."



This could help a lot of celebrities out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080102/ap_on_sc/cocaine_vaccine

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Wednesday, January 2, 2008 7:11 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Seems to me this is old news. 'NO' has worked for me, every time it's used. 100% effective rate.

It is not those who use the term "Islamo-Fascism" who are sullying the name of Islam; it is the Islamo-Fascists. - Dennis Prager

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Wednesday, January 2, 2008 10:37 AM

FREMDFIRMA


Scary.

How long before the "For your own good" crowd tries to make it legally mandatory, I wonder.

-F

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Wednesday, January 2, 2008 10:58 AM

RIGHTEOUS9



that is a good point Frem

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Wednesday, January 2, 2008 3:02 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important


Hello,

It seems likely that a 'vaccinate your kids' program might become popular. The proposal is likely to suggest that vaccinating your kids against cocaine will ensure that they don't get hooked in High School.

I wonder if Cocaine is related chemically to any beneficial drugs? If so, there could be a real detriment to this treatment.

If not, what is the downside to this vaccine? Is it the inherent removal of choice? Do we want our children to be able to make the choice, at some point in their lives, to get high on cocaine?

What about prisoners convicted of cocaine abuse? Should they have the right to get high again, or should their punishment include Cocaine Vaccination?

Or what if 'punishment' is removed entirely and replaced with 'rehabilitation' in the form of Cocaine Vaccination? Instead of spending years in the slammer, you can get vaccinated?

Will other drugs have vaccinations made, too? Will bar-hopping women be able to get date-rape drug vaccines someday?

This is a very interesting area for discussion.

--Anthony

"Liberty must not be purchased at the cost of Humanity." --Captain Robert Henner

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Wednesday, January 2, 2008 6:52 PM

FREMDFIRMA


"I wonder if Cocaine is related chemically to any beneficial drugs? If so, there could be a real detriment to this treatment."

BWAHAHAHAAH, sorry, I just have to laugh - it depends on what the school system would call... beneficial.

They won't do that, they'll NEVER do that, and you know why ?

It would counteract the effects of the tremendous flood of ritalin and other stimulant based drugs used to keep children from actually thinking and questioning what's happening to them - prolly resulting in riots and pocket revolutions within a week, from withdrawl symptoms if naught else.

Yes I am being ironic, but how much so... that's for you to decide.

-Frem

It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it

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Thursday, January 3, 2008 12:40 AM

CREVANREAVER


Quote:

Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
How long before the "For your own good" crowd tries to make it legally mandatory, I wonder.



Unfortunately I can the statists in both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party supporting that. That's why we need Ron Paul in the White House.

http://www.ronpaul2008.com

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Thursday, January 3, 2008 3:26 AM

GEEZER

Keep the Shiny side up


Don't mess with Father Darwin.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

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