According to the Associated Press’ search of a U.S. government database, six of the eight currently registered clinical trials studying deep brain stimulation (DBS) for addiction treatment are taking place in China. The first one scheduled to begin in the U.S. will commence in June of 2019. [Note: This number has likely increased since the development of this story.]

Meaghan Creed, PhD, principal investigator of Creed Lab at Washington University in St. Louis, who has been studying DBS in mice, feels that studying DBS therapy for addiction is “important and very timely.” However, she feels that surgery alone will not be the one-stop solution.