Cautious Optimism For Illicit Drug Vaccines

Jeff — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:16:47 +0000

Preliminary results from two recent studies suggest that vaccines may be an effective treatment protocol for cocaine and nicotine addicts. The cocaine study was published in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry and is the first to successfully show the effectiveness of a vaccine for illicit drug use. Essentially, the vaccine works by producing antibodies in an addict’s immune system. These antibodies attach themselves to cocaine molecules and prevents them from crossing the blood-brain barrier, which blocks the psychological effects of cocaine. A department within of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), named the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), along with researchers from a handful of universities were responsible for conducting the study. While the trials seem promising, the vaccine is only moderately successful and does not account for addicts taking larger amounts of the drug to circumvent the vaccine. Researchers admit that more comprehensive studies need to be done in order to determine its efficacy and safety.

In the same vein as the cocaine vaccine study, trials have begun to develop a vaccine which would prevent relapses in smokers. NABI Biopharmaceuticals located outside of Washington, DC was awarded a multimillion dollar grant to continue research on an anti-nicotine vaccine. It works just like the cocaine vaccine in that antibodies are produced that prevent nicotine from entering the brain. This in turn inhibits the high smokers get from cigarettes.

I have personally known cocaine and nicotine addicts. There are three main issues I have with these vaccines:

Vaccines must be administered on a schedule to remain effective. Keeping addicts motivated to adhere to this schedule may present long-term problems.
As with most pharmaceutical medicines, side effects have yet to be evaluated and could very well prove to be more dangerous than cocaine or nicotine. Time will tell.
And my biggest problem, by far – Our medical system continues to propagate the “cure in a pill” mentality, making Big Pharma cartels obscenely rich while ignoring the root cause of disease. This approach leads to lifetime patients/customers for Big Pharma, but never really addresses the core issues. These illicit drug vaccines do not address the confluence of issues that lead to abuse in the first place – family, depression, health, money, etc. This is admittedly much more time-consuming and more difficult to address, but the trade off is well worth it.

Source:

National Institutes of Health

W.H.O. Was Complicit In Unfounded H1N1 Hype?

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Cautious Optimism For Illicit Drug Vaccines