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Scientists are reporting development and successful testing in laboratory mice of a substance that shows promise for becoming the first antidote for cocaine toxicity in humans. 

According to a report in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics, the new so-called "passive vaccine" reversed the motor impairment, seizures and other dangerous symptoms of a cocaine overdose, which claims thousands of lives each year among users of the illicit drug.

"This would be the first specific antidote for cocaine toxicity," said Kim Janda, PhD, senior author of the report, the Ely R. Callaway, Jr. Chair in Chemistry, a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbial Science. "It's a human antibody so it should be relatively safe, it has a superior affinity for cocaine, and we examined it in a cocaine overdose model that mirrors a real-life scenario." 

The report describes the development of a cocaine passive vaccine, which consists of pre-formed human antibodies against cocaine that are 10 times more potent in binding cocaine molecules. This improved potency accelerates their ability to reverse cocaine toxicity, where time is of the essence.

The findings could lead to human clinical trials of a treatment designed to reverse the effects of cocaine in case of emergency. Cocaine is involved in more than 400,000 emergency-room visits and about 5,000 overdose deaths each year in the United States.

When administered by emergency medical teams or in hospital emergency departments, these passive vaccines could represent a life-saving therapeutic for overdose victims. The vaccine represents a viable treatment strategy for the human condition of cocaine overdoses.

Janda notes that such a treatment could be useful not only in reducing the immediate effects of an overdose, but also in preventing near-term relapses. "A lot of people that overdose end up going back to the drug rather quickly," he said. "but this antibody would stay in their circulation for a few weeks at least, and during that time the drug wouldn't have an effect on them." 

Likewise, this antibody could be administered to patients in addiction recovery or detox programs as a prophylactic treatment to supplement other medications, such as antidepressants, and counseling. An acute relapse during this recovery period would be immediately nullified by the antibody dose that is already in circulation.