A vaccine for nicotine addiction

Cytos Biotechnology has announced that it has entered into an exclusive global commercial licence agreement with Novartis to develop, manufacture and commercialise CYT002-NicQb, a therapeutic vaccine in phase II clinical development for the treatment of nicotine addiction.

The vaccine has been shown to induce nicotine-specific antibodies that bind to nicotine in the bloodstream. As the resulting complex of nicotine attached to an antibody is too large to cross the blood-brain barrier, nicotine uptake into the brain and the subsequent stimulation of nicotine-responsive nerve cells is believed to be significantly reduced.

The reward-inducing and addiction-driving stimulus of nicotine should be minimised and abstinence from smoking more easily achieved and maintained.

A phase I and a phase II clinical trial have demonstrated that CYT002-NicQb has a favourable safety profile, is generally well tolerated and that it promoted and sustained long-term abstinence from smoking, when high antibody levels have been achieved on vaccination.

According to a World Health Organisation study in 2006, there are 1.3 billion smokers worldwide and 4.9 million tobacco-related deaths per year, making tobacco use the leading cause of preventable death in the world today.