CHICAGO — Scientists at the University of Chicago have come up with an intriguing potential treatment to combat cocaine and alcohol addictions — a skin graft genetically altered to release molecules that curb the craving for those substances.
The treatment has been shown to work in mice, and the researchers hope to begin human trials next year. If it proves itself there, it would be a valuable addition to a growing but still inadequate arsenal of addiction treatments, observers said.
“I think it would be wonderful to have more tools in our tool chest,” said Dr. Alta DeRoo, chief medical officer of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. “We’ve seen (medication-dispensing) implants. We have devices that go behind the ear. This sounds wonderful if it works.”
