Dosage Appears To Be A Critical Factor In Cocaine Vaccine.(Brief Article)

2002 FEB 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dosage appears to be a critical factor in the effectiveness of a cocaine vaccine being tested by Yale researchers that is designed to block the euphoria drug abusers experience.

Of eight patients in the second phase of clinical trials of the vaccine, one received one dose and the others received three to four doses. Six of the eight patients reported only one or two uses of cocaine during 6 months of follow-up treatment and the two other patients used cocaine on a regular basis during the 6 months.

"These are very good results for people who abuse cocaine," said Thomas Kosten, MD, professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and lead researcher on the project. There are an estimated 3 million cocaine abusers, making cocaine the second most commonly abused illicit drug after marijuana.

Kosten hopes to enroll a total of 150 patients in the second phase of the trial. The goal in this next stage, which is being conducted on an outpatient basis, is to determine the dosage and the degree of addiction.

The first phase of the clinical trial included 34 subjects and was intended to test how the vaccine worked, whether it was safe, and if there were any side effects. Kosten published the results of the Phase I trial in the January issue of Vaccine.

"We found that the vaccine, TA-CD, is safe, made antibodies, and there is no significant toxicity," he said. "The vaccine was well tolerated and had no serious drug-related adverse events, although three subjects at the ...