A delay in clinical trials to test the antiepilepsy drug vigabatrin for its effects on addiction in humans has been criticised by researchers.
A report in the Mail on Sunday on August 6, discussed research carried out by scientists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, US, in 1998, that suggested vigabatrin might be useful for treating addiction to cocaine and nicotine.
The scientists are now calling for trials but say that human studies cannot be done without the help of Aventis Pharma, the manufacturer of vigabatrin.
A spokeswoman for Aventis Pharma told The Journal on August 8: "Addiction is not an area of strategic focus for Aventis and we plan to concentrate on the use of vigabatrin for the treatment of epilepsy." She added: "Aventis has supplied vigabatrin to Brookhaven for their studies and shared information about the drug's mechanism of action in the past but we are not pursuing this line of research."
Treatment with vigabatrin leads to an increase in the levels of gamma amino butyric acid in the brain, which decreases dopamine production. An appropriate dose of vigabatrin taken before exposure to nicotine or cocaine, which increase dopamine production, can block their effects on the brain, say the US researchers.