HUMAN TESTING EXPECTED ON ANTI-ADDICTION DRUG

NEW YORK (AP) -- Human testing is expected to begin this fall on a drug
that appears to block cocaine addiction in laboratory animals and might
have promise for use against other addictions.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National
Laboratory held a news conference today to describe their tests of the
ability of gamma vinyl-GABA, or GVG, to curb cocaine cravings in rodents
and monkeys.

The drug could be an improvement over methadone, the most commonly used
antidote to cocaine addiction in three decades, said Dr. Jonathan Brodie, a
New York University psychiatry professor who collaborated on the research.

While methadone is itself addictive, the new drug is not. ``This is like if
you craved candy and you went to a candy store to get it, only now the
cupboards are bare -- so you stop going to the candy store,'' Brodie said.

The scientists said they believe the drug has the potential to also curb
addiction to substances such as nicotine, heroin and amphetamines.

``If this can do for humans what it did for animals, we may have opened the
door for addicts around the world to kick their habit,'' said Stephen
Dewey, a brain-science expert at Brookhaven and lead author of the report.

The drug, now used for treatment of epilepsy in Europe and Canada, is
marketed by Hoechst Marion Roussel, a unit of Hoechst AG in Germany.

Brookhaven researchers became interested in it because it reduces the level
of a brain chemical called dopamine, which causes the ``high'' feelings
from drugs.

Cocaine appears to increase dopamine production. But lab animals given GVG
in addition to cocaine retained normal levels of dopamine.

Tests on human volunteers would begin as soon as the Food and Drug
Administration approves the GVG for use in the United States. Final FDA
approval is expected in October, according to Brookhaven.

Results of the Brookhaven work, sponsored by the Department of Energy's
research department and the National Institute of Mental Health, were
released today by the journal Synapse.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski