Treatment for nicotine addiction takes many forms. While patches, gum and even hypnosis have been on the market for years as methods to quell cravings for cigarettes, smokers often find that the cravings keep winning. Those who want to quit smoking are looking for more help in battling the temptation to smoke.
Testing of a new nicotine vaccine shows that there may soon be a way to help smokers quit. NicVAX was recently evaluated in Stage II trials (Hatsukami, et al., 2011). NicVAX, like other nicotine vaccines creates antibodies that prevent the nicotine from reaching the brain by bonding to them. When nicotine doesn’t reach the brain, the pleasure of smoking is eliminated.
The researchers recruited 301 participants to enroll in a double-blind placebo-controlled study. Those that smoked more than 15 cigarettes a day and expressed a desire to quit smoking were asked to complete the study, a total of 194 subjects.
The researchers assigned the participants to one of six groups, with five of the groups receiving a different level of dose of NicVAX and one operating as a control group. The participants recorded cigarette use and the researchers assessed cigarette consumption using blood and urine tests.
The results of the study showed that the group with the highest level of NicVAX was approximately twice as likely to abstain from cigarette use for eight weeks when compared with the placebo group. However, those who were given a lower dose of the vaccine did not show a significant difference when compared with the placebo group.
Likewise, the group that received high levels of the vaccine was more likely to be cigarette-free at 26 weeks versus the placebo group, while the low-dose group did not show a difference when compared with the placebo group.
Even participants in the high-dose group who continued to smoke still showed improvement over other groups. High-dose smokers on average smoked 4.6 fewer cigarettes that those in the placebo group.
The authors of the study caution that the results may be limited because all of the participants expressed a desire to quit smoking, and most had made attempts to quit smoking before. The results may not be duplicated among smokers who are not interested in quitting.
Although the use of NicVAX showed that some high-dose patients did not have success in smoking cessation, the results indicate that NicVAX may be a good treatment for many who want to quit. The rates of success for those using NicVAX were twice as high as for those who have used nicotine replacement therapy, and four times as high as those who quit on their own.
http://www.addictiontreatmentmagazine.com/addiction/nicotine-addiction/nicotine-vaccine-promising/