Trials show vaccine may aid smokers to quit habit

SMOKERS could soon get a jab to stop their nicotine addiction.

The vaccine called NicVAX stops the smoker from deriving any pleasure from inhaling a cigarette.

In preliminary human trials, those who received the vaccine were 3.5 times more likely not to be smoking after a year.

While a large number of products to help smokers quit are available, the relapse rate is as high as 90% within a year of stopping.

Patients in the US are to be enrolled in a large study to confirm the vaccine’s effectiveness and monitor side-effects by the year end.

The Irish Cancer Society’s health promotion manager, Nora Cronin, said the society would welcome any proven method to help smokers to quit.

She said smoking was the single most preventable cause of ill health and death in Ireland and the benefits of stopping started immediately.

About 6,000 people die every year in Ireland from smoking related diseases and 305 of all cancers are directly caused by smoking.

American chemist Kim Janda who has been studying vaccines to treat addiction since the late 1980s, has predicted that the product will hit the US market within the next two years.

In 2006 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put the trial of the drug on fast-track for approval.

When the vaccine is approved by the FDA, other drug licensing authorities, including Ireland’s, are expected to authorise its use as soon as possible.

The vaccine works by creating antibodies that bind to nicotine molecules, preventing them from passing into the brain.

There are a variety of products to help people quit but most act by replacing nicotine in a less harmful way.

Nicotine replacement therapy includes nicotine patches, nasal sprays, lozenges and gum and the manufacturers stress that willpower is also needed to beat the habit.

Each NicVAX jab lasts about a month and people using it would need to receive repeat doses to help them quit.

This week pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline made a deal with the drugs developer, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals to help it launch the world’s first anti-smoking vaccine.

GSK has agreed to pay €27 million up front and about €336m in the future to Maryland-based Nabi.

A smoker in the US who joined a trial at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital after seeing an advert seeking volunteers was asked to try to quit smoking after the first injecting.

He noticed that cigarettes gave him a headache and burned his throat after the first injection and after two shots he was smoking less and less. He said the vaccine gave him that extra push to stop smoking.

If the latest NicVAX trial is successful, GSK will have the option of taking responsibility for further development and commercialisation of the vaccine. Nabi has already undertaken the first of this two-part trial.

* Smokers wanting to quit can get help from GPs, pharmacists, the Health Service Executive and the National smokers Quitline (1850 201 203).