By Nigel Hawkes
A VACCINE against nicotine has produced impressive results in a large-scale human trial. The success of the vaccine was predicted in The Times.
Almost 60 per cent of those who responded best succeeded in giving up smoking for at least 16 weeks. Those who did not succeed in giving up smoked significantly less.
Among those who responded less strongly, a third managed to quit, an encouraging result but not significantly better than in those given a placebo — just under a third of whom also managed to give up. The results were announced on Saturday at the meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando, Florida.
Jacques Cornuz, of the University Hospital of Lausanne, said: “The data clearly suggest that antibodies against nicotine are effective in helping people quit smoking. I believe the vaccine approach has the potential to dramatically alter the way we will treat smoking addiction.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,170-1614151,00.html