Science Creates the World’s First Alcoholism Vaccine

Scientists in Chile have spent the past year designing a drug that will give anyone who drinks alcohol an immediate (and very nasty) hangover.

We won’t lie, that sounds like a pretty evil plan, but it’s for a good cause — they’re trying to treat addiction. A research team at the Universidad de Chile has spent a year developing a vaccine for alcoholism. Basically, the vaccine works by sending biochemical messages to the liver not to express genes that metabolize alcohol. If someone who’s had the vaccine tries to drink alcohol, they’ll experience severe nausea, tachycardia (accelerated heartbeat), and general discomfort—basically a medically induced hangover of epic proportions.

The Santiago Times reported that the Universidad is looking to launch a preclinical trial of the vaccine next month, followed by a seven-month-long study in India, so it’ll be awhile before the vaccine is available to the general public.

H/T FWF