Abstract

Cocaine addiction continues to be an important public health problem, with over 2.1 million regular cocaine users in the US. The risks associated with this addiction are enormous and include increased crime and violence as well as increased risk of HIV, and hepatitis. The presence of intravenous cocaine use is one of the strongest predictors for HIV infection, increasing the risk by about four times. Given that there are no effective medication treatments for cocaine addiction, new treatment approaches that will lead to effective treatments are needed. Chronic cocaine use is associated with significant cognitive impairment, which interferes with effective behavioral treatment of this addiction. This proposal will target cognitive function to develop effective treatments for cocaine addiction. We propose to evaluate the effectiveness of a cognitive enhancer, galantamine, for the treatment of cocaine addiction. Galantamine is a cholinesterase inhibitor that is approved for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. In our pilot studies, galantamine improved attention function in cocaine users and reduced cocaine use. We are proposing a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial. One hundred and twenty cocaine addicted individuals will be randomly assigned one of three treatment groups: placebo, 8 mg/day, or 16 mg/day for galantamine treatment. The main outcome measure will be cocaine use and cognitive performance measures, including measures of attention. We hypothesize that galantamine will be more effective than placebo in reducing cocaine use and improving measures of attention. We also hypothesize that improvement in cocaine use will be mediated by improvement in attention function. This proposal may lead to development of effective treatments for cocaine addiction.

Public Health Relevance

Cocaine addiction continues to be an important public health problem and there are no effective medication treatments for this addiction. This proposed application will test a promising medication, galantamine, for the treatment of cocaine addiction.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01DA029577-01A1
Application #
8105851
Study Section
Risk, Prevention and Intervention for Addictions Study Section (RPIA)
Program Officer
Bough, Kristopher J
Project Start
2011-04-01
Project End
2015-02-28
Budget Start
2011-04-01
Budget End
2012-02-29
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2011
Total Cost
$357,459
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
Yale University
Department
Psychiatry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
043207562
City
New Haven
State
CT
Country
United States
Zip Code
06520

  Publications

Barry, Declan T; Sofuoglu, Mehmet; Kerns, Robert D et al. (2016) Prevalence and correlates of coprescribing anxiolytic medications with extensive prescription opioid use in Veterans Health Administration patients with metastatic cancer. J Opioid Manag 12:259-68
Beitel, Mark; Stults-Kolehmainen, Matthew; Cutter, Christopher J et al. (2016) Physical activity, psychiatric distress, and interest in exercise group participation among individuals seeking methadone maintenance treatment with and without chronic pain. Am J Addict 25:125-31
Barry, Declan T; Sofuoglu, Mehmet; Kerns, Robert D et al. (2015) Prevalence and correlates of co-prescribing psychotropic medications with long-term opioid use nationally in the Veterans Health Administration. Psychiatry Res 227:324-32
Sofuoglu, Mehmet; Rosenheck, Robert; Petrakis, Ismene (2014) Pharmacological treatment of comorbid PTSD and substance use disorder: recent progress. Addict Behav 39:428-33
Potenza, Marc N; Sofuoglu, Mehmet; Carroll, Kathleen M et al. (2011) Neuroscience of behavioral and pharmacological treatments for addictions. Neuron 69:695-712