Anti Smoking Vaccine gets $10 million and Fast Track Status

Breaking news on the vaccine front!! If I were John Banzhaf I'd be sending out press releases saying "in response to my recent blog posts regarding vaccines, the National Institute of Health announced they are giving a $10 million dollar grant to the developers of NicVAX, the anti smoking vaccine, to fund phase III testing." But I won't.

What is NicVAX? An anti-smoking vaccine?

NicVAX is a new injectable vaccine developed by Nabi biopharmaceuticals of Rockville Md which the FDA has already granted "fast track status" to that researchers claim will help people quit smoking and prevent them from relapsing.

NicVAX has already passed initial regulatory hurdles to show the idea is sound and now move to clinical trials where patients are given six monthly shots. Early results show that smokers using the vaccine had a higher rate of success at abstinence from tobacco than those given the placebo.

"Nicotine addiction causes nearly a half million deaths annually in the United States alone. Finding effective treatments that can help people stay off cigarettes has been a real challenge," said NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins. "This Phase III trial of a nicotine vaccine offers tremendous hope towards solving this immense public health problem."

How does an anti smoking vaccine work?

Just like other vaccines it boosts the immune system and creates antibodies that then bind to nicotine molecules, thereby blocking ittheir ability to enter the brain.

"We know that once inside the brain, nicotine triggers the release of dopamine, a chemical linked to pleasure and to addiction. Once a person becomes addicted, it is extremely difficult to achieve and sustain abstinence. Withdrawal symptoms, environmental cues, and stress can all trigger relapse," said NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow. "A vaccine that limits the ability of nicotine to enter the brain, and that is effective for six to 12 months following vaccination will give smokers a fighting chance to end the addiction/relapse cycle that plagues the great majority of smokers trying to quit."

And researchers say "In the future, the anti-nicotine vaccine could also prove to be a powerful tool in smoking prevention," People vaccinated will be immune to the pleasurable effects of nicotine and thereby, they hope, uninterested in using tobacco or nicotine products.

Who is funding the research into NicVAX?

The company has already received grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse in a public-private partnership that began in 2001. As initial studies showed promise, more money was granted in 2005 to fund clinical trials and test the safety and efficacy of this new vaccine.

This new $10 million dollar grant comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, once again by way of NIDA. It will allow Nabi to retain it's staff and support 150 new jobs at research sites around the country as they now enter Phase III testing.

"The Recovery Act grant enables NABI to take the next step in the development of NicVAX. We're delighted that NIDA has chosen to support the NicVAX program, since we think it could ultimately benefit millions of smokers worldwide," said Dr. Raafat Fahim, president and chief executive officer of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals.

I'd be delighted too if the government kept throwing millions of dollars at me for research! But, I guess I owe the FDA an appology. It seems they are fast tracking some alternatives in response to the national health emergency smoking poses. I never imagined one of them would be an actual vaccine though.

Now, i'm not sure I like the whole idea of a vaccine. I'm not a big fan of vaccines in general and I question the excitement about how it can prevent smoking. In a few years are we going to see, like we have with the swine flu vaccine, mandatory vaccination of smokers to get them to quit or non smokers to keep them from ever starting? Perhaps; we shall just have to wait and see.

How will this affect the Electroinic Cigarettes?

It will be a few years before we see this on the market. It's totally brand new technology and not simply another nicotine replacement alternative, like electronic cigarettes, the patch or the gum. You don't wean yourself off nicotine like with a smoking cessation product or continue using nicotine in a hopefully safer manner than cigarettes like the e-cigs. If this works, it stops your addiciton to nicotine dead in it's tracks.

But long time smokers will still struggle with the behavioral aspects of smoking and perhaps tools like the electronic cigarette may help them cope with that.

But I do have to admit, this is interesting technology and I'll be keeping an eye on it's development.