Can't Quit Smoking? Try a Vaccine

Experimental anti-nicotine vaccine closer to reality

Clinical trials of an experimental vaccine indicated promising results in helping people curbed nicotine addiction, say scientists. The vaccine, known as TA-NIC, seemed effective in preventing nicotine from entering the brain. As a result, the drug can no longer give you a buzz, which should then make it much easier to give up tobacco.

Xenova, the British-based company who developed the vaccine, which may also help cocaine addicts, reported 95% out of 60 volunteers has successfully stopped smoking. However, 73% of those who received the dummy vaccine were also able to quit smoking during the 12-month study conducted in Belgium.

The recruits all smoked between 10 and 75 cigarettes a day for at least three years and were between 18 and 70 years of age. The vaccine was administered by intramuscular injection at weeks 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 with a booster at 32 weeks, while the rest were given a placebo.

The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that the tobacco epidemic is still expanding, especially in developing countries where currently 84% of smokers live. Tobacco use kills 4.9 million people each year and this toll is expected to double in the next 20 years. At current rates, the total number of tobacco users is expected to rise to 1.7 billion by 2025 from 1.3 billion today.

Over the last few years, nicotine chewing gum and patches have become popular as a way of helping people to quit. However, the new anti-nicotine vaccine works in a completely different way.

The vaccine is designed to stimulate the body's immune system to produce antibodies which bind to the nicotine molecules. This makes them too big to get into the brain, said Dr. Campbell Bunce, a scientist at Xenova. “Hopefully, the presence of these antibodies will reduce the hit of the cigarette and that desire for another cigarette will be significantly blunted.”

David Oxlade, Xenova's Chief Executive, said, "Most people who want to stop smoking find it very hard to do so, even though they may be aware of the risks involved.”
 
Clive Bates, director of Action on Smoking and Health, said, "About a third of smokers or 4 million people try to quit each year, but the vast majority relapse within days or weeks and start to smoke again. If a vaccine helped reduce the relapse rate, then it could change everything.”

He added, "If smokers could quit when they wanted to - and most do want to - then the tobacco companies would be dead in the water." However, Mr. Bates warned that the research was at an early stage. "No one should hold back from trying to quit now in the hope there will be a magic potion in a few years."

Following these preliminary results and confirmation of the dose to be taken forward, Xenova expects to begin Phase II trials for TA-NIC this year with interim Phase II results expected in 2006.

If the second trial succeeds, Xenova hopes to have it on the market within five years. The company is only one of a number of other companies looking at development of a vaccine for smoking, they include Cytos Biotechnology, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals and Prommune.

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