

By taking a common tranquilizer along with a medicine that slows the production of stress hormones, cocaine addicts may be able to fight their addiction in an impressive new way. The new drug combination should reduce their cravings without getting them high.

On Wednesday, Embera NeuroTherapeutics announced the first clinical trial for the new treatment.

Under the supervision of Anita Kablinger, a professor of Psychiatry at Louisiana State University, forty-five volunteers will try to kick their habits. Some will receive a placebo, while others will get a combination of the sedative oxazepam and the hormone-blocking drug metyrapone.

For six weeks, Kablinger and her team will check on each patient twice a week, give them drug tests, and ask questions about their drug cravings and mood. Hopefully, those that receive both medications will find it easier to quit without suffering from as many withdrawal symptoms.

Unlike other experimental treatments for cocaine dependence, which act as replacements for the illicit substance, this new mixture does not push the same neurological pleasure buttons. Instead, it blocks the production of cortisol — a chemical that is well known to send stress signals. Nicholas Goeders, founder of the pharmaceutical startup, believes that those molecules also cause drug cravings. Cutting them off should relieve addicts of the intense urge to get high. If he is right, the same drug combination could be used to treat many other forms of addiction as well.

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