Abstract
Cocaine abuse is an ongoing and serious problem that has led to the growth of a brutal criminal enterprise, particularly in the Americas and Europe. At present, there are no effective pharmacological agents available to treat the addiction by blocking cocaine or reversing its effects. In order to help motivated addicts conquer their addiction, vaccines against cocaine are being developed and one has progressed to clinical trials. This article will discuss the concept of antidrug vaccines in general, the successes and limitations of the various anti-cocaine vaccine approaches, the results of the clinical trials with an anti-cocaine vaccine and some new vaccine-mediated approaches to combat cocaine addiction.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
This work is supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Review Program and VISN 16 Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, the Veterans’ Affairs National Substance Use Disorders Quality Enhancement Research Initiative, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse grants 5R01 DA 26859, K05 DA 0454 (TRK), P50-DA18197. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.