Trial reportDrug and alcohol dependence2025
Pregnenolone reduces provoked craving and cocaine use in men and women with cocaine use disorder: A pilot trial.
Trial report in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
- Update of
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimChronic cocaine use decreases neuroactive steroid (NAS) levels, contributing to continued cocaine use and high risk of return to use in individuals with cocaine use disorder (CUD). This pilot study assessed chronic treatment with two doses of the NAS precursor pregnenolone to boost endogenous NAS levels and affect provoked craving and cocaine use outcomes in an 8-week trial in men and women with CUD.
methodsFifty-five treatment-seeking individuals with CUD were randomly assigned to receive either placebo (PLA; n = 18; 12M/6F), 300mg PREG/day (n = 20; 15M/5F) or 500mg PREG/day (n = 17; 12M/5F) for 8 weeks. Plasma collected at weeks 2, 5 and 7 was assessed for pregnenolone levels. A subset participated in a 3-day experimental component of guided imagery exposure to stress, cocaine and neutral cues in about week 2 of the trial to assess craving response. Cocaine use outcomes were assessed during the treatment period. Intent-to-treat analyses were conducted using linear mixed effects models.
resultsPregnenolone levels were higher in the 300mg and 500mg PREG groups compared to PLA (p's < 0.032). Stress (p < .001) and cocaine cue (p < .001) induced craving increased in PLA, but not in PREG groups. 300mg PREG used lower cocaine amounts compared to 500mg PREG group (p = 0.01) and PLA (p = .047). A non-significant reduction was observed for % days of cocaine used (p = .122).
conclusionsThese pilot findings suggest that PREG reduces cocaine craving and improves cocaine use outcomes in treatment seeking individuals with CUD, supporting further assessment of PREG in the treatment of CUD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.