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Anti-Smoking Vaccine Is Nearing the Market
eldavojohn writes "Almost 6 years ago we discussed a vaccine to help people quit smoking as it entered human clinical trials. Now it looks like the finishing touches have been put on a deal that will go into effect once phase III testing of the drug now called NicVAX is completed. NicVAX was developed by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, who have agreed to license it to GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals; it is expected to complete phase III testing successfully. Others have fallen short of this goal, in pursuit of a smoking-cessation market expected to hit $4.6 billion worldwide by 2016. Nabi has also sold an experimental vaccine for staph infections; and in 2008 we discussed news of a cocaine vaccine."
What's more, there are no side effects
Clearly you've never been addicted to something. Like, ADDICTED addicted, in the sense that your body physically feels different when you try to ween it off.
Don't get me wrong, I think you are right, that quitting is more about a person being disciplined and wanting to quit more than anything else, but to say that you won't feel anything when trying to quit is inaccurate.
Yes, you will get the shivers, and you will get the sweats, and you might even get the shakes. But you gotta fight through that shit.
From TFA...
NicVAX works by stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies that bind to nicotine in the bloodstream, making the nicotine molecule too large to cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain.
So it effects the immune system to recognize some particular foreign matter and deal with it? That sounds like a vaccine to me.
The only reason why this is necessary is because a compound that already exists is illegal and not profitable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibogaine
Kind of reminds me of a friend of mine's first foray into quitting smoking. He declared that he was only going to smoke when he was drinking. He did very well with that...the only problem was he ended up getting drunk twice a day.