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Cocaine sobers up

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A drug that discourages alcohol ingestion has shown promise as a treatment for cocaine addiction. New findings in rats suggest a potential mechanism—the drug decreases amounts of dopamine in the brain (pages 1024–1028). Blocking enzymes that regulate dopamine abundance may be a new way to treat cocaine addiction and prevent relapse in humans.

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Figure 1: The metabolic and biosynthetic pathways underlying disulfiram treatment of cocaine addiction.

Katie Vicari

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. David Weinshenker is in the Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.,

    David Weinshenker

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  1. David Weinshenker
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Correspondence to David Weinshenker.

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Competing interests

D.W. is co-inventor on a patent concerning the use of selective dopamine β-hydroxylase inhibitors for the treatment of cocaine dependence (US-2010-0105748-A1; “Methods and Compositions for Treatment of Drug Addiction”). He has also received research funds from Cephalon Pharmaceuticals for a separate project.

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Weinshenker, D. Cocaine sobers up. Nat Med 16, 969–970 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0910-969

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