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Ron Crystal's Vaccines

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Over the past many years, vaccines have been produced to save lives from diseases and illnesses, like polio, cholera, and measles. Now, that the global drug epidemic increases and claims more and more lives, they are now on the hunt to find a vaccine that could one day treat drug addiction.

A New York based doctor by the name of Ron Crystal started a 10 year search for a vaccine for cocaine addiction. He says that “the real challenge in developing these vaccines, is can you evoke significant amount of immunity sufficient to block the addictive molecule from reaching the brain?”

This is how Crystal’s vaccine would work. Once it’s injected, the body produces antibodies against cocaine. The antibodies bind to the cocaine and prevent the drug from reaching the brain. This tricks the immune system into blocking its effects, resulting in having no high from the drug. If this vaccine works safely, Crystal thinks that it could be an important milestone in the ‘war’ against addiction. …show more content…

This is a health crisis as well as a financial burden on the health-care system. Crystal feels that “ there is no therapy other than psychological therapies [for cocaine]. If we could develop vaccines that were effective then, in fact, it would be very important and you could use the term game

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