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Vaccines Target Smoking, Drugs, Other Ills

Smoking, illicit-drug use and obesity are just some of the problems being targeted with new vaccines, the Chicago Tribune reported Oct. 1.

Using federal funding, including $15 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), researchers are developing and testing vaccines for nicotine and cocaine addiction; a "smoking vaccine" could be ready for the market within three years, experts say.

"The American Cancer Society has projected that we will have 1 billion people die from smoking in the world in this century," said Frank Vocci, NIDA's director of medications development for the institute. "If you had a vaccine that helped people quit and stay quit, or prevent them from smoking, that's where you'd get the greatest public-health benefit."

The vaccines work by creating antibodies that attach to target molecules and prevent them from reaching the brain. Periodic booster shots are needed to keep the vaccines effective.

Test subjects like smoker James VanHall say the vaccine seems to work. "Cigarettes pretty much tasted good all my life, but right now it seems like I'm smoking a light cigarette or something," said VanHall. "There's hardly any flavor there. I'm hoping the vaccine works because this is the worst thing I've ever tried to quit in my life."

Cytos, a Greek company that is developing a nicotine vaccine, said that 43 percent of smokers in a recent test remained abstinent for a year, compared to 21 percent of a placebo group. NicVAX, created by Nabi Pharmaceuticals, has been fast-tracked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; studies found that 40 percent of users remained abstinent after six months, compared to 9 percent of a control group.

"There is a great deal of promise for the nicotine vaccine not only as a smoking-cessation tool but also potentially as a relapse-prevention tool," said Dorothy Hatsukami, director of the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center. "For those who have achieved abstinence and don't want to slip into relapse, being injected by the vaccine might be a good tool."

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