2023-10-26 23:28:00
A team of Brazilian scientists is taking an important step in the fight against cocaine and crack addiction with the creation of the “Calixcoca”a promising therapeutic vaccine. It aims to inhibit the effects of these drugs and help users to break the vicious circle of addiction.
The project presented by researchers from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) was financed with 500 thousand euros by winning the Euro Innovation in Health Latin America award, awarded last week by the pharmaceutical multinational Eurofarmawhich operates in more than 20 countries.
“It is a therapeutic vaccine. Its function is to help the chemical dependent to produce antibodies that bind to the drug and prevent it from entering the brain,” explains the psychiatrist Federico Garciacoordinator of the project developed and patented by the University of Minas Gerais since 2015.
The Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded the vaccine revolution
In practice, the vaccine seeks block the feeling pleasure that cocaine causes by activating the brain region known as “reward area”. By breaking that cycle, you increase the chances that people who want to stay abstinent will be able to do so.
Tests in rodents, prior to the next stage with humans, have shown a significant production of antibodies against cocaine with few side effects.
Additionally, the vaccine has been shown to be effective in protection of fetuses of rats against cocaine, which could have a positive impact on the treatment of pregnant women with addiction problems if its effectiveness is confirmed in human trials.
If registered by Anvisa, Calixcoca would be the first anti-cocaine vaccine in the world
Although similar research projects have been carried out in the United States, they did not continue due to insufficient results in clinical trials, among other reasons listed by Garcia.
The psychiatrist explains that “Calixcoca” is the first project of this type in Latin America. If clinical trials demonstrate its effectiveness and it obtains approval from Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency), it would become the first anti-cocaine and anti-drug vaccine in the world used as a medicine.
“Conventional vaccines usually use a protein platform, which can be a protein from a virus or bacteria. We take an important step by using a completely synthetic molecule to create a vaccine platform. There are advantages: you control the entire production cycle in a simpler way; It has a lower cost than protein vaccines; It does not need a cold chain for transportation or refrigeration for storage,” highlights the researcher in an interview with the Research Support Foundation of the State of Minas Gerais.
It will not be a “panacea”
Despite these advances, García warns that the vaccine would not be a “panacea” to be administered to any user. His target audience will be defined more precisely after clinical trials, but in principle, it will be aimed at those patients who are abstinent and motivated to stay in that state.
“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 would be a ccomplement to multidisciplinary strategies and could play a fundamental role in prevent relapses immediately after chemical addicts leave the rehabilitation centers, one of the most critical phases of the process. The objective is to contribute to changing a “sad statistic,” says Garcia.
Argentina is one of the countries where the consumption of cocaine and psychoactive substances is growing the most.
Brazilwhich is the second largest consumer of cocaine after the United Stateshas high hopes for “Calixcoca.”
More of three thousand people have already volunteered as volunteers to participate in clinical trials, in an effort to change the statistics in which one in four regular users become dependent and only one in four manages to quit the habit after five years in treatment, according to data from the National Institute on Abuse Drug Administration (NIDA) of the United States
Despite efforts to educate the population about the dangers of cocaine useremains an important social and health challenge. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime noted a increase in the number of consumers of cocaine from 14 million in 1998 to 18 million in 2017, which corresponds to almost the 0.4% of the world population between 15 and 64 years old. Brazil occupies first and second place in the ranking of crack consumption (smoked form of cocaine) and cocaine trafficking, respectively, according to a paper de ScienceDirect.
RM CP
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