Double Blind Study of Vigabatrin for the Treatment of Cocaine Dependence

Summary

The primary objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of vigabatrin for the treatment of cocaine dependence, based on the twice-weekly qualitative urine toxicologies for cocaine. Based on two prior unblinded human studies and 15 years of animal studies, this 100 subject double- blind, randomized study is designed to show if with vigabatrin treatment but not placebo, even non-hospitalized cocaine dependent individuals with ready access to cocaine will become cocaine abstinent if they are self motivated to stop their cocaine habit. To accomplish this, cocaine dependent subjects will be randomly assigned to either a placebo or vigabatrin treatment group and treated for a nine week period. The primary hypothesis is that as compared to the placebo arm, the vigabatrin treatment arm will show a significant increase in the number of subjects who are abstinent for the final 3 weeks of the study.

Timeline

Start

2007-04

Primary completion

2007-11

Completion

2007-11

Publications

• Background Fechtner RD, Khouri AS, Figueroa E, Ramirez M, Federico M, Dewey SL, Brodie JD. Short-term treatment of cocaine and/or methamphetamine abuse with vigabatrin: ocular safety pilot results. Arch Ophthalmol. 2006 Sep;124(9):1257-62. doi: 10.1001/archopht.124.9.1257.
• Background Brodie JD, Figueroa E, Laska EM, Dewey SL. Safety and efficacy of gamma-vinyl GABA (GVG) for the treatment of methamphetamine and/or cocaine addiction. Synapse. 2005 Feb;55(2):122-5. doi: 10.1002/syn.20097.
• Background Brodie JD, Figueroa E, Dewey SL. Treating cocaine addiction: from preclinical to clinical trial experience with gamma-vinyl GABA. Synapse. 2003 Dec 1;50(3):261-5. doi: 10.1002/syn.10278. No abstract available.
• Brodie JD, Case BG, Figueroa E, Dewey SL, Robinson JA, Wanderling JA, Laska EM. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of vigabatrin for the treatment of cocaine dependence in Mexican parolees. Am J Psychiatry. 2009 Nov;166(11):1269-77. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.08121811. Epub 2009 Aug 3.

Drugs

Indications