Cocaine women could, in a relatively distant future, take advantage of the help of a molecule to obtain their addiction. A study published on April 2 in Revue Science Translational Medicine, seen by Le Figaro, analyzes the promising effects of Mavoglurant.
Laboratory researchers shared the results of this “promising” study, where the molecule was first tested in humans for this purpose, in a phase 2 clinical trial.
28% of patients wean
In total, 68 men from Switzerland, Spain or Argentina with the consumption of this astonishment were followed.
The molecule used acts in the glutamate receiver in our brain (Mglur5), is involved in the cocaine dependence circuit. Twice a day for fourteen days, part of the guinea pigs of the Indies received a mavogluro seal, with one placebo for the other group. And the results are convincing.
“There is the system called Glutamate system or the glutamergic system. And this molecule will in fact block this system, since we know that when you consume drugs it is activated,” deciphera for BFMTV.com Florence Noble, CNRS Research Director.
“It seems that there really is a decrease in cocaine consumption in a three -month follow -up,” he said. According to the data published during the last three weeks, 28% of the patients who received the medication were weaned, compared to 8% for the test group that a placebo received.
Hope and several limits
The results of this study are promising. But several limits remain. All participants, around 70, are all Caucasic, while genetics plays a role in the population.
These are essentially men, while surprising differences could take place among the sexes. Finally, this study was carried out only for a period of three months, a fairly short period.
“It would be necessary to study much more time since the big problem of addiction is really relapse problems,” said Florence Noble. She insists on the imperative of a long time to carry out serious and complete scientific studies.
“Unfortunately, no drug has demonstrated its clinical effectiveness, so there is currently no usable treatment in the clinic to treat cocaine addiction. If these preliminary studies that seem interesting can be confirmed, amplified by other studies, we may have an interesting therapeutic strategy before us.”
Prudence shared with the Figaro of Christian Lüscher, a neurobiologist at the University of Geneva. He emphasizes that “there is still a lot of work to understand the mechanisms of action” of this new molecule in our brains.
A public health scourge, one million consumers in France
If there is no treatment to obtain cocaine addiction, the need is really real. France now occupies the seventh range in Europe in terms of consumption of this medicine, according to the latest study of the French Observatory of Addictive Drugs and Trends (OFDT).
During the past year, 1.1 million French from 11 to 75 years consumed cocaine. According to this same barometer, 14,000 people receive support in the centers of attention, support and prevention in addictology. All combined drugs, it is estimated that 467,000 French are “drug drug users, often polyconnsomigants.”
Source: BFM TV
