When tested on animals, the Calixcoca vaccine induced a significant amount of antibodies with a few side effects. Researchers are now set to begin the final stage of the trials, where it will be
Researchers in Brazil have developed a vaccine designed to fight addiction to cocaine and its potent derivative crack by preventing addicts from feeling the effects of the drugs and helping them stay on track for recovery.
The project won top prize last week 500,000 euros ($530,000) at the Euro Health Innovation awards for Latin American medicine, sponsored by pharmaceutical firm Eurofarma.The vaccine works by triggering patients’ immune systems to produce antibodies that bind to cocaine molecules in the bloodstream, making them too large to pass into the brain’s mesolimbic system, or “reward center,” where the drug normally stimulates high levels of pleasure-inducing dopamine.