Esteban Ortiz Prado

An experimental drug called mavoglurant can reduce the consumption of both cocaine and alcohol in people with cocaine use disorder, according to the results of a phase 2 clinical trial with 68 participants. Although trials with more participants are needed, the results suggest that this drug should be studied further. The findings, in which Spanish teams have participated, are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Drinking alcohol and sleeping in hypobaric conditions - such as those of an aircraft cabin - could be a risk to cardiovascular health, a study warns. Researchers compared a group of 23 people sleeping in a laboratory with another group of 17 people sleeping in a high-altitude chamber, replicating conditions at about 2,400 metres above sea level. The combination of alcohol consumption and hypobaric hypoxia during the simulation "reduced sleep quality, challenged the cardiovascular system and led to extended duration of hypoxaemia," the authors state in the journal Thorax.