Drug That Treats Diabetes May Also Help Treat Cocaine Addiction
A drug which helps to treat type 2 diabetes has been found effective in treating cocaine addiction as well, reveals a research.
The findings could have far-reaching implications for patients worldwide who suffer from addiction.
“What we have demonstrated is that a brain mechanism already known to be therapeutic for the treatment of diabetes also appears to be implicated in at least certain types of drug addiction,” said Gregg Stanwood, Ph.D., assistant professor of Pharmacology and an investigator within the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and Vanderbilt Brain Institute.
“We found that this drug called Exendin-4 that is already used for the medical management of diabetes, reduces the rewarding effects of cocaine in animals. We suspect that this is a general mechanism that will translate to additional drugs of abuse, especially other stimulants like amphetamine and methamphetamine,” he stated.
Co-author Aurelio Galli, Ph.D., professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and Vanderbilt Brain Institute investigator, said Exendin-4 is already FDA-approved for diabetes (Byetta and Bydureon), so this target isn’t just “druggable” – it’s already “drugged.”
“I think the power of this research is that it is so easily translatable to humans because it is already FDA approved,” said Galli, also co-director of the Neuroscience Program in Substance Abuse (N-PISA) at Vanderbilt University.
“This is the first indication that it will work on psychostimulants. So our studies offer immediate translational opportunities to improve outcomes in human abusers,” the researcher noted.
Lead author, Devon Graham, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in Pharmacology, injected animals with a drug called Exendin-4, which is a long-lasting version of the natural peptide hormone GLP-1, and observed a significant blunting of the rewarding effects of cocaine. The findings were consistent, regardless of the Ex-4 dose administered, the researchers reported.
The study reports no evidence of negative side effects or addiction to Ex-4 treatment.
The findings have been just published online as a Letter To The Editor in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
Source-ANI
Category: Pharmaceuticals
