WITHIN two years, cocaine addicts desperate to kick the habit could take part in a pioneering trial of a gene therapy that gives them extra copies of a gene primed to mop up the drug.
The therapy will be combined with a new vaccine that stops cocaine reaching the brain. Former addicts who get no kick from the drug will be less likely to get hooked again if they relapse.
The gene in question codes for a fast-acting version of the enzyme butyrylcholinesterase, which destroys cocaine. Giving multiple copies of the gene to addicts would prevent them getting high while…
