Cocaine pharmacology and current pharmacotherapies for its abuse.

M Rocío A Carrera, Michael M Meijler, Kim D Janda

The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Chemistry and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.

Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry 2004 Oct 1

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Cocaine abuse continues to be prevalent and effective therapies for cocaine craving and addiction remain elusive. In the last decade immunopharmacotherapy has been proposed as a promising means to alleviate this illness. By using the organism's natural immune response, an anti-cocaine vaccine promotes the production of cocaine-specific antibodies that sequester the drug before their passage into the brain, where it exerts its reinforcing and thus addictive effects. A series of studies demonstrating the cocaine-blocking properties of various immunogenic conjugates will be reviewed in the context of the neuropsychopharmacological profile of the drug.

Citation

M Rocío A Carrera, Michael M Meijler, Kim D Janda. Cocaine pharmacology and current pharmacotherapies for its abuse. Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry. 2004 Oct 1;12(19):5019-30