Mexico City (Reuters) – while Mexico dealing with the violence of the drug cartels, a group of local scientists is working on a vaccine that could reduce the addiction to one of the best-known drug in the world: the heroin.
researchers at the National Institute of Psychiatry said that the vaccine has been tested successfully in mice, and prepare for tests in humans.
, Which has already been patented in United States, vaccine works by making the body more resistant to the effects of heroin, so consumers do not have the rush of pleasure when they smoke or are injected.
“Would be a vaccine for people who have a serious addiction, that has not had success with other treatments and decide to use this method to stop consuming drugs,” said the Director of the Institute, MarÃa Elena Medina Thursday.
Years ago, scientists from around the world have sought vaccine for drug addiction, but none has been developed completely nor released to the market.
A group of researchers from the National Institute for the United States drug abuse spoke of significant progress in a vaccine for cocaine.
Mexican scientists would close for major advances in the vaccine for the heroin, but have received funds for part of this American institution and the Government of Mexico.
. In tests, mice had access to deposits of heroin for a long period. The copies that was administered the vaccine showed a large fall in the consumption of drugs, raising hopes for the Institute which will work in people, said Medina.
Kim Janda, a scientist who works developing vaccines for drugs at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, said that based on documents reviewed on the early stages of the investigation, the Mexican vaccine could work, but with some limitations.
“Could be reasonably effective, but perhaps too general and affect many types of opiates, as well as the heroine”, said Janda.
Mexico, a major producer and country of transit of drugs towards United States, has a growing problem of addiction.
The Health Secretary, José Ãngel Córdova, said recently that the country currently has about 450,000 addicted to hard drugs, especially in the corridors of drugs on the border with United States.
Drug trafficking bands grow poppies in the mountains of the Sierra Madre, to then produce heroin.
Each year, the heroin trade leaves billions of dollars to cartels such as Sinaloa or Los Zetas. Since 2006, the drug violence has claimed the lives of more than 47,000 people in Mexico.
