Spain to test vaccine to treat cocaine addiction

MADRID Researchers in Spain, which has the highest rate of cocaine use in the European Union, will test a vaccine next year that they hope will help addicts break free of their addiction to the

drug, health officials said Thursday.
The vaccine will be tested on 164 people at a dozen hospitals during the first half of next year, Carmen Moya Garcia, an
epidemiologist who heads the health ministry's National Plan on Drugs, told a news conference.
It does not eliminate the craving for cocaine but will stop addicts experiencing a high when they take it.
The vaccine causes protein molecule to be attached to cocaine molecules, which stimulates the body's immune system to produce antibodies that recognize the drug and prevent it from reaching the brain, said psychiatrist Carlos Alvarz Vara.
"Patients do not feel anything when they consume the drug and become frustrated that they spent their money for nothing," he said.
The clinical trial, which was approved by the European Medical Agency, could be extended to other European countries.
Last year 22,000 Spaniards requested treatment for their addiction to cocaine from hospitals and doctors.
The treatment of cocaine addiction now mostly involves psychiatric counseling and 12-step programs.
Experts say that the typical addict is a young professional male, between the ages of 15 and 34 years old. Spain is Europe's main entry point for cocaine from South America, mostly from its former colony Colombia, the world's top producer of the drug.
Law enforcement officials say the country has also become a key European money laundering center for Colombian cocaine cartels.
Over 8,000 people were jailed in Spain last year in Spain for cocaine trafficking.
The clinical tests will last for some two years, covering a total of 70 adults at 10 hospitals. Prior to the current project, the University of Tokyo Hospital implanted CT Bone in 10 adults, who showed promising results.
The researchers expect to put it into practical use in three to four years.
The same technology has been used to make prototypes of industrial products.
"But it is the first time in the world to use materials that can and were implanted into the human body," said Chung Ung-il, a University of Tokyo bioengineering professor who is also part of the project.
Chung said previous studies showed the implants are replaced with regenerated real bone after one or two years, depending on the extent of the defects.
Takato said the host bone serves as "an incubator" that helps replace artificial bone as cells invade the implant in what could be called "in-body tissue engineering".
As ceramic implants are brittle, surgeons often have to scrape the patient's host bone instead to help conventional implants fit better, Takato said.
Doctors also often take bone from elsewhere in the body, particularly the hip, for conventional transplants.
"Nearly half of it is often wasted in the process of making an implant that fits. It is very good to be able to reconstruct bone without taking a piece from elsewhere," Takato said.
Takato hopes to use CT Bone for children if the clinical tests go well.
"Even if I want to treat their skeletal damage or development abnormality, I can't take bone from children for grafts. This technology should benefit children," Takato said.
Children usually have excellent bone growth. "Implants would be quickly replaced with their own bone, which would grow as the child grows," he said.
The technology also has narrow holes running through the artificial bones, inviting blood vessels and cells to come and help regenerate bone.
The research team is also working on a second-generation CT Bone, which contains materials that facilitate bridging between the artificial and real bone.
Experiments with implanting it in the skulls of Beagle dogs are underway with good results, he said.
The ultimate goal is to be able to construct bone from the living cells of patients, allowing them to take in larger pieces.