Evaluation of Potential Pharmacotherapies

The aim of this chapter is to discuss human laboratory research in which cocaine challenges have been administered to volunteers as part of an effort to detect potential pharmacotherapies for cocaine abuse.

Abstract

Publisher Summary The aim of this chapter is to discuss human laboratory research in which cocaine challenges have been administered to volunteers as part of an effort to detect potential pharmacotherapies for cocaine abuse. The types of pharmacological interactions that are most relevant to substance abuse pharmacotherapy are those relating to modulation of indices of abuse liability. This chapter provides an overview of the pharmacodynamic effects of cocaine in humans, including measurement procedures commonly employed in the laboratory. The robust physiological responses to cocaine can be readily monitored in the laboratory; it is possible to collect most physiological data through the use of computerized and automated monitoring devices. In most cocaine interaction studies, volunteers respond to a number of different questionnaires before and at multiple time points after drug administration to characterize the time-action curve and qualitative features of the drug experience. Medication-cocaine interaction studies will be most informative if they assess interactions under a broad range of parameters.