In efforts to help people quit smoking a stop smoking vaccine is under development that essentially makes nicotine too big to reach the brain. The monthly injection is designed with nicotine antibodies that cause the nicotine in the blood to bind together, making them too big to pass into the brain. By removing the nicotine from the brain, it prevents the feeding of the addiction.

The effort to quit smoking failed for years as most believed that smoking was a habit and it was up to the individual to break the smoking habit. Today, most agree that it is the addiction to nicotine that makes quitting so difficult. Tools, such as the stop smoking vaccine are designed to help break the nicotine addiction, making smoking easier to quit.

If the brain is looked at like the cartoon version of wheels and cogs running in synchronized unity and when one cog breaks off the function ceases, it is easier to understand the effects of nicotine. Think of one cog as nicotine, and when it is no longer there, function ceases until a new cog takes its place. The stop smoking vaccine will remove the nicotine cog while other therapies can replace it, until a natural one can be back in place.

Additional Help Available With Vaccine Studies

Almost all participants in recent stop smoking vaccine studies, were given additional resources to quit smoking, including counseling and their success rate is measured through biochemical means. Instead of relying solely on personal diaries in which daily nicotine needs are recorded, researchers conducted tests to measure carbon monoxide in the person’s exhaled breath. This insures the accuracy of the diaries as well as demonstrating how quitting smoking returns oxygen levels to the body.

Studies included the injection of nicotine antibodies once a month for six months and the success rate has moved the clinical trials into the next phase. Developed by Cytos Biotechnology, all trials have been conducted in Sweden.

Initial studies involved the use of nicotine replacement therapy but during the second phase, replacement therapy was not in use. The level of nicotine antibodies in the blood as well as the number of people who were able to cease smoking during the first six months, is making the researchers optimistic about the stop smoking vaccine success. Further development and additional testing will be conducted to determine the long-term benefits as well as the potential for side effects to the stop smoking vaccine. Many of the side effects typically associated with smoking cessation were solved by the replacement therapy and hopes are now that the nicotine dependency is reduced, withdrawal symptoms will be negligible.