Therapy Analysis - Drug addiction
Cocaine and methamfetamine
As explained previously, cocaine inhibits the reuptake of dopamine, increasing the availability of dopamine in the synapse and increasing dopamine's action on the postsynaptic neurons. The 'high' is short-lived, meaning that users repeatedly administer cocaine to repeat the effect. Methamfetamine is a dopaminergic and adrenergic reuptake inhibitor. It rapidly enters the brain causing a cascading release of norepinephrine, dopamine and 5-HT. Both cocaine and methamfetamine use is on the rise in the Western world, which would suggest that these drug addictions may soon be more on the radar of the pharmaceutical industry. At present, there are no drugs specifically approved for the treatment of these addictions, and the usual approach is to administer drugs to deal with the effects of the different phases of withdrawal, such as sedatives or antidepressants, and offer counselling. Similar to its nicotine vaccine discussed above, Celtic Pharma is also developing a vaccine against cocaine use, TA-CD that has reached Phase II development. For methamfetamine addiction, Yaupon Therapeutics is collaborating with the US NIH on the development of the first specific pharmacological treatment - an alkaloid from Indian tobacco called lobeline.
