The discovery of a compound that both quells anxiety and reduces alcohol and cocaine cravings -- ALDH2i -- was announced this week in the journal of Nature Medicine.
Ivan Diamond, former vice president of neuroscience at a California biotech firm -- Gilead Sciences Inc. -- said the compound represents a departure from the customary approach to the development of anti-addiction drugs: rather than inhibiting the dopamine receptors or dopamine synthesis, it restores balance in the brain's dopamine system, which spins out of control in addiction.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, or brain chemical, that affects, among other things, the ability to experience pleasure and pain. Addiction occurs when dopamine or dopamine antagonists (alcohol and drugs) repeatedly stimulate the dopamine receptors, causing overstimulation. Overstimulation increases the number of receptors and makes existing receptors less receptive. In other words, tolerance. Or the need to ingest more to achieve the same effect.
According to Diamond, the greater the addiction, the better the drug works.
How long before it's available? Who knows. The FDA isn't even in the picture yet, according to reports.
For more details, check out the BHC site.
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