# 6-week trial of oxytocin for co-occurring cocaine and opioid use disorders

> **NIH VA IK2** · PORTLAND VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2021 · —

## Abstract

High rates of substance use disorders in Veterans compared to the general population
are heavily influenced by psychosocial factors – such as difficulty reintegrating into
civilian life due to avoidance of vital support systems – leading to disproportionately
elevated unmet addiction treatment needs. Those using both cocaine and heroin have
mortality rates 14.3 times higher than the general population. 30-60% of patients receiving
methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) for opioid use disorder actively use cocaine.
There are currently no approved psychopharmacological treatments for cocaine use
disorder, and drop-out rates from MMT programs and vital psychosocial treatments are
as high as 80% for cocaine users. What’s more, cocaine use, compared to other drugs, is
particularly driven by social stress, and cocaine is associated with hyperreactivity of the
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Preclinical and pilot clinical findings suggest
that administration of oxytocin, a mammalian neuropeptide, may have a multitude of
direct anti-addiction effects, improve engagement in psychosocial treatments, and
attenuate hyperreactivity of the HPA axis in patients with cocaine use disorder. This is a
double-blinded, placebo-controlled, clinical trial of fifty Veterans with active cocaine use
disorder, also receiving MMT in an opioid treatment program, randomized to receive
either oxytocin 40 IU or placebo intranasally twice daily for six weeks. The primary
outcome measure will be oxytocin’s effectiveness at reducing cocaine use as measured by
quantitative levels of the cocaine metabolite, benzoylecgonine, in weekly urine samples.
Potential mechanisms of treatment response will be evaluated by measuring oxytocin’s
effectiveness at a) improving therapeutic alliance with treatment providers (Working
Alliance Inventory, client and therapist forms) and attendance in existing clinic-run
treatment components and b) attenuating social stress-reactivity by measuring self-
reported cocaine craving, psychophysiological stress measures, and salivary cortisol in
response to a Trier Social Stress Test. In sum, discrepancies between Veterans and
civilians in addiction prevalence, severity, and successful intervention are largely driven
by higher rates of social avoidance and posttraumatic stress symptoms among Veterans.
This study will uniquely combine psychopharmacological and evidence-based
psychosocial interventions targeted at reducing cocaine use, improving treatment
engagement, and preventing stress-related cocaine use among Veterans with co-
occurring cocaine and opioid use disorders receiving MMT.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9858240
- **Project number:** 7IK2CX001495-04
- **Recipient organization:** PORTLAND VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Christopher Stauffer
- **Activity code:** IK2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2017-01-01 → 2021-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9858240

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9858240, 6-week trial of oxytocin for co-occurring cocaine and opioid use disorders (7IK2CX001495-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9858240. Licensed CC0.

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