The testing with this vaccine is still at the new stage

Research coming from America shows that a smoking vaccine made by the pharmaceutical company Nabi could help people quit smoking. The results from clinical testing with the vaccine showed that those people given a shot of it were far more likely to quit smoking over a twelve month period compared to those who were given a placebo shot. In all sixteen percent of those who were given the largest dose of the vaccine quit compared to only six percent of those who given the placebo. Some of the volunteers were given a lower dose of the vaccine and fourteen percent of these managed to stop smoking for at least one year.

According to Dr Stephen Rennard from the University of Nebraska Medical Centre who led the clinical testing for this new vaccine those people who were not able to quit smoking tended to smoke fewer cigarettes when given the shot. The vaccine works in a completely different way from any other smoking cessation treatment in that it makes the human body produce extra immune system antibodies which stopped the nicotine from getting into the brain and thus producing the pleasurable effects associated with smoking.

From examining the patients who took the vaccine they could see which patients produced the largest amounts of these particular antibodies and they noted that these were the ones who were most likely to quit smoking. If they did not actually quit smoking they were also very likely to smoke considerably less than they did before.

The testing with this vaccine is still at the new stage and much more work need to be done but Dr Rennard is confident that this vaccine could be developed into a commercial smoking cessation treatment.  Doctor Rennard presented his results to a conference of the American Heart Association in Florida.