Smokers have tried a long list of ways to quit: cold turkey, counselling, gum, patches and more.
Now, a small company is hoping it can make millions of dollars by creating a vaccine for people who want to kick the habit. Nabi Biopharmaceuticals of Rockville, Maryland, is in the late stages of testing its experimental vaccine.
For many years, the standard treatment for breaking a smoker's dependence on nicotine has been patches or gum that contain declining dosages of the substance in an effort to wean addicts off the their dependence.
Nabi's experimental vaccine, a decade in the works, tries a more direct approaches: It shuts down nicotine's access to the brain. Smokers may light up a cigarette while on NicVax, but if the drug works as intended, they will not feel any of the stimulating effects they crave from nicotine.
NicVax causes the immune system to create antibodies that bond with the nicotine molecule if it enters the bloodstream. The result is a molecule too large to pass along to the brain. In short, the vaccine seeks to make the body immune to nicotine.
So far, the vaccine has completed its early and middle rounds of testing. The company plans to have the results of its recently commenced final round in 2011.
Smokers do not usually quit successfully on the first try - on average there are eight to 11 failed attempts. While the percentage of adults who use tobacco has been on a steady decline over the last few decades, recent years have seen that trend flatten out.
20.6 per cent of US adults count themselves as smokers, a figure that is virtually unchanged since 2004, when it was 20.9 per cent.
Nicotine vaccine for smokers
A vaccine is in the works to help smokers beat the habit:
1. When tobacco smoke is inhaled the nicotine is absorbed through the lung tissue into the bloodstream.
2. Nicotine is so small it can easily enter the brain and binds to nicotine receptors inside.
3. Dopamine, a stimulant that provides the smoker with pleasurable sensations, is released.
How the vaccine will work
1. When injected, the vaccine, called NicVack, causes the body to create nicotine-specific antibodies.
2. When they bind to nicotine in the blood-stream, their size keeps nicotine from crossing over to the brain. The will not occur.
3. Over time, the smoker's addiction will diminish and he will quit smoking altogether.
New Vaccine To Kick Nicotine Habit
