Efficacy of N-acetylcysteine on the Craving Symptoms of Abstinent Hospitalized Patients With Cocaine Addiction
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Salvatore Campanella
- Where
- Belgium1 site in 1 countryChoose a country to see its sites
- Trial code
- Status
- Terminated
- Phase
- Phase 2
- People taking part
- 33 people enrolled
- Started
- 1 Mar 2019
- Ended
- 17 Dec 2024
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets a placebo (a dummy treatment), for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- N-acetylcysteine
- Lactose powder
- Record updated
- 7 February 2025
- Why it stopped
- Difficulties in recruitment (single addictions become rare)
Who can take part
- Age
- 18 years to 80 years
- Sex
- Women and men
- Healthy volunteers
- Cannot take part
The registry criteria, word for word
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Who can take part
- Patients addicted to cocaine (according to the DSM V classification)
- Patients admitted for three weeks in the unit 73 of the CHU Brugmann Hospital
- French speaking
Who cannot take part
- Anti-craving or anti-psychotic medication
- Addiction to other drugs (except nicotine or cannabis)
- Psychiatric medical history
- Neurological medical history
- Heavy medical history
- Asthma
- Pregnancy
- Lactose intolerance
This trial has no sites in United States.
It has sites in one country. Choose a country to see its sites.
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
Cocaine abuse is associated with serious physical, psychiatric and social problems. Addiction results in the compulsive use of a substance with loss of control and persistence despite the negative consequences.The act of re-engaging in the search for drugs is called relapse and a particularly insidious aspect of addiction is that vulnerability to relapse lasts for many years after stopping drug use.
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The main reason why people continue to use cocaine is because of its influence on the reward system.Indeed, this substance makes it possible to increase the level of dopamine, particularly in the nucleus accumbens.This increase in dopamine is not related to the hedonic pleasure that consumption provides. Instead, it imprints a positive value to enhancers and facilitates the learning of reward associations through the modulation of the cortical and subcortical regions of the brain.In other words, it suggests that users become sensitive to a series of stimuli that combine with a rewarding feeling, which drives them to consume when they encounter them.
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has been used for a long time, mainly as mucolytic. It has also been used as a glutathione antioxidant precursor in the treatment of paracetamol overdose for more than 30 years. NAC has shown beneficial effects in animal models of cocaine addiction by reversing neuroplasticity and reducing the risk of restoring consumer behavior in rodents. Human studies show that NAC is potentially effective in preventing relapse in abstinent patients and ineffective in reducing current consumption.
In this study the investigators will test a sample of newly detoxified (and therefore abstinent) patients who have taken a 3-4 week course of treatment, in order determine if NAC can be a useful medication candidate to avoid relapse in patients with cocaine dependence.
The 2 groups in the trial
- N-acetylcysteineTreatment being tested
- Lactose powderPlacebo, for comparison
Data and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Record updated
- 7 February 2025