Failure as Perpetual Novelty and Promise: The Neuro-Fiction of Addiction Immunizations

• In Event: 41067 - Sociology of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology

Abstract

Animal studies demonstrating “proof of concept” for addiction immunizations were first published in the 1970s. As originally theorized in this foundational research, immunization could block the brain’s absorption of a drug, eliminate its pleasurable effects, and reduce or extinguish future drug-seeking behavior. Since the publication of this pioneering animal research, addiction vaccines for humans have been heralded as potential “game changers” in the treatment of substance use disorders (SUD). Labeled as “novel” and “promising” for fifty years, the promise of addiction immunization remains unrealized. We analyze the ongoing failure, novelty, and promise of immunizations for SUD. Through a discursive systematic review of the international peer-reviewed medical literature related to addiction immunization R&D from the 1970s forward we reveal how this body of R&D is simultaneously riddled with failure, on the verge of game-changing breakthroughs, and staunch guardian of the reigning addiction science paradigm. We maintain that addiction immunization remains novel and promising preciously because of ongoing failure. We document and analyze three interrelated fruits of failure – generative resources found at the union of failure and expectations – vis-à-vis the imaginaries (or neuro-fictions) of addiction immunizations. We address how these fruits of failure contribute to the ongoing pharmaceuticalization of addiction. Finally, we consider fruits of failure as general dynamics residing at the union of exceptions and scientific failure beyond the case at hand.

Authors

• Kristin Kay Barker, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque

• Erin Fanning Madden, Wayne State University

• Katherine Rickers, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque

• Preston L Lowe, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque