Carbidopa/Levodopa Combined With Behavioral Therapy for the Treatment of Cocaine Dependence
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2011-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Cocaine dependence is a major public health problem and the development of a treatment for
this disorder is a priority. To date, treatment interventions based on positive incentive
principles have shown the strongest effects for improving substance use outcomes. One such
example is contingency management (CM) interventions in which nondrug rewards are used to
compete with cocaine. Recent evidence suggests that certain medications improve response to
CM interventions, particularly agents that target dopamine reward systems in the brain. A
promising dopamine-enhancing medication is levodopa. The study team has observed the
strongest effects of levodopa when the medication is administered in the context of CM
therapy, perhaps through mechanisms that enhance reward saliency. The proposed study is
designed to further evaluate this promising treatment approach. Cocaine dependent outpatients
will participate in a randomized, 2-group (levodopa vs. placebo), double-blind clinical
trial. CM will be behavioral therapy platform for both treatment groups. The study will test
the primary hypothesis that CM+levodopa will be more effective than CM+placebo in reducing
cocaine use. This study is expected to validate the usefulness of a new
behavioral-pharmacological treatment approach for cocaine dependence.
Phase:
Phase 2
Details
Lead Sponsor:
The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston