An Anti-Inflammatory Agent Improves Attention in Methamphetamine Abusers

Methamphetamine (MA) dependence is associated with numerous cognitive difficulties that adversely affect response to treatment and predict vulnerability to relapse. In many populations including methamphetamine users, neuroinflammation is likely to contribute to cognitive dysfunction. Ibudilast, a nonselective phosphodiesterase inhibitor, reverses neuroinflammation, inhibits glial cells, is neuroprotective, and in preclinical studies has shown beneficial effects on opioid withdrawal, alcohol drinking, and MA dependence. (It is approved for other clinical uses in Japan but is still undergoing the FDA approval process.) These researchers examined attention as part of a randomized, double-blind, safety-interaction trial of ibudilast, for which…