Promising Early Findings on Nicotine Vaccine Reported

The successful quit rate was 10 percent higher among smokers whose bodies responded well to an experimental nicotine vaccine than those given a placebo, according to preliminary research from Nabi Biopharmaceuticals.

CNN reported April 21 that Nabi officials told attendees at a recent National Institute on Drug Abuse conference that 16 percent of study subjects who were most receptive to taking the NicVAX vaccine were able to stop smoking and remain abstinent, compared to 6 percent of a placebo group. Smokers whose bodies were most receptive to the vaccine also cut their daily smoking rate considerably.

NicVAX works by binding to nicotine molecules so they can't enter the brain.

Full results from the study, now in Phase III trials with 1,000 study participants, are expected in late 2011.