Addiction, Author Interviews, Cocaine, Lancet / 30.03.2016
Sustained Release Dexamfetamine Reduced Cocaine Use in Crack Addicts
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mascha Nuijten MSc
Researcher/ PhD candidate
Brijder Research (PARC)
The Hague
The Netherlands
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Crack-cocaine dependence is a complex disorder, for which no proven effective pharmacotherapy is yet available. Prior to our study, sustained-release dexamfetamine was found to be a promising treatment for cocaine dependence in several studies, but no studies so far had shown a convincing benefit in terms of substantial cocaine use reductions. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy of sustained-release (SR) dexamphetamine in a robust dose of 60 mg/day in chronic crack-cocaine dependent patients.
We found that the number of days of cocaine use decreased with almost 40% in the dexamfetamine group, compared with 9% in the matched placebo group. In addition, the number of cocaine self-administrations on days that patients used crack-cocaine decreased with 43% in the dexamfetamine group and with 7% in the placebo group. Thus, SR dexamfetamine both contributed to cocaine abstinence and to cocaine use reductions.
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