A group of scientists told attendees of a Capitol Hill briefing that vaccines and antibody medications could play an important role as an adjunct to addiction treatment, CQ Healthbeat News reported July 31. Yet pharmaceutical companies need to show more of a commitment to research in this area in order for these interventions to fulfill their promise, said the research experts.

The group speaking at the Friends of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) briefing said that with the exception of drugs to combat tobacco addiction, pharmaceutical companies have tended to shy away from tapping into what they see as a limited market for anti-addiction medications.

NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D., explained at the briefing that vaccines and antibody medications to combat drug addiction would make it more difficult for drug users to achieve their desired high, thus weakening users' powerful memory association with the positive effects they feel when they use. Because vaccines trigger the production of antibodies over an extended period, they are not seen as threatening to produce extreme withdrawal in individuals, according to scientists.

"If you can learn that the drug is no longer desirable, you can decrease the effect on that memory," Volkow said.

S. Michael Owens, director of the University of Arkansas' drug research center and chief scientific officer of InterveXion Therapeutics LLC, said he is working to develop fast-acting antibody medications for methamphetamine treatment. But he added that such medications should not be seen as a cure in and of themselves. "This is intended for individuals who are interested in going into a treatment program," Owens said at the briefing.