Treatment Effects of Modafinil for Cocaine Use Disorders: A Retrospective Analysis of Aggregated Clinical Trial Data From Three Cocaine Treatment Studies

Approximately 913,000 individuals in the United States meet the diagnostic criteria for cocaine use disorder (CUD). The widespread usage of cocaine, along with the negative cardiac and neurological effects associated with the drug, has made cocaine one of the top three drugs associated with overdose deaths in the United States. This epidemic has brought cocaine dependency into the public spotlight and has prompted extensive research into treatment strategies. However, at the time of writing, no drugs have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in treating CUD. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of one particular drug, modafinil, in treating CUD. Modafinil has been approved by the FDA to treat certain sleep disorders, including narcolepsy and shift work sleep disorder. Retrospective analysis of longitudinal data aggregated from three clinical trials is used to examine the efficacy of modafinil in treating CUD. We find that modafinil may not be equally effective for all patients with CUD. Specifically, via a cluster analysis of our aggregated subject sample, we identified a cluster of non-severe cocaine and alcohol users who may respond more significantly to modafinil than more severe users. We believe that more clinical trials will be needed in order to replicate our observations in an independent sample