Smoking Vaccine

[CES]

The vaccine is incredibly scary. It keeps the nicotine from getting to the brain, but also means that the nicotine that is bound by the antibodies is hanging out in the bloodstream until the body can get rid of it. The articles that I've read don't say whether the antibody is specific, clearance of bound nicotine seems to be through sequestration into fat stores and organs. The articles about it also don't say whether the bound nicotine in the bloodstream is still able to bind to receptors. If it is, then you could still get the peripheral effects- like muscle cramps, heart rate changes, digestive? etc, without any effects on the cravings. And it's likely permanent. For me this sounds like an absolute nightmare- getting nicotine (via vaping, smoking, snus, the patch whatever) while having heart palpitations and cramps with the cravings completely unabated, the more nicotine, the more antibodies made against it, the more side effects. For those who believe that people should be punished while quitting it might sound like a workable option.

[Mr.Stick]

Calling it a vaccine is a little more than pretentious, but I suppose it is all in the marketing. If it is a quit smoking aide, it is one of the crappiest ever (yay unrelieved withdrawl!), and if it is a preventative, well, when does one suppose they ought to introduce it? Perhaps in metered doses at the onset of those pesky teen years? Perhaps from birth? Whats next? McVaccine! Or just an all-around vaccine against choice in general?

[Devilooman]

This treatment does not block nicotine receptors. It makes the nicotine too large to ever get into your brain. I guess their idea is that if you don't get the happy feelings from smoking you will eventually just stop doing it as there is no reward for your screaming brain. EEEEEK this would be absolute torture to someone addicted to smoking! They also are conveniently NOT mentioning why the first trial failed.

[CES]

Mr. Stick, it really is a vaccine, that's what makes it so scary. It also works best if you take in nicotine- because that's what causes your body to create antibodies against it. THEORETICALLY (meaning i don't agree with the following- but i bet that someone is thinking about it) you could vaccinate a child, and the vaccine would begin to work only if they started smoking at some point in their lives- they wouldn't get pleasure from smoking so would never get hooked. Course, if they ate tomatoes or potatoes that could also trigger antibody production. Other things could too- since there's no data that I could find that showed that they've tested the specificity- it doesn't look like they have any good information about whether the antibodies could bind to and block some other molecule that might be really important in normal functioning.

Yep, fast tracked clinical trials for something that has potentially wide-ranging side effects, and banning something that doesn't have quite the same potential for permanent side effects.

[Mr.Stick]

Mr. Stick, it really is a vaccine, that's what makes it so scary. It also works best if you take in nicotine- because that's what causes your body to create antibodies against it. THEORETICALLY (meaning i don't agree with the following- but i bet that someone is thinking about it) you could vaccinate a child, and the vaccine would begin to work only if they started smoking at some point in their lives- they wouldn't get pleasure from smoking so would never get hooked. Course, if they ate tomatoes or potatoes that could also trigger antibody production. Other things could too- since there's no data that I could find that showed that they've tested the specificity- it doesn't look like they have any good information about whether the antibodies could bind to and block some other molecule that might be really important in normal functioning.

Yep, fast tracked clinical trials for something that has potentially wide-ranging side effects, and banning something that doesn't have quite the same potential for permanent side effects.

Yup, you're right - definately vaccine. I must have blocked out the word "antibody" while I was reading, on accounta that is freakish.

Looks like a candidate for a special place in the Worst Ideas Ever file... "They" really will stop at nothing to save us from ourselves (how quaint), and sure hell won't let the fact that some of us neither want, nor need, the kind of help they offer.

One can only hope that further testing of this vaccine fails miserably; meddling with human physiology is sketchy, at best, and generally just plain bad news.

[CES]

I think they may be willing to accept less than 100% success. ARGH. If it's like the vaccine for the substance that used to be in coca cola then they won't get 100% abstinence. In that care "decreased use' was still seen as promising. What makes me crazy is that policy makers and a good part of the general public don't understand science, so they can't evaluate the studies or put them in any sort of context- and only get the sound bite. Someone tosses out the idea that decreased pleasure might make it easier for smokers to quit- while not getting that it would be absolute living h*ll.

[Mr.Stick]

I'll go with a fancy quote - "The trouble with always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind." G.K. Chesterton.

[CES]

......true.......

[Katya]

Mr. Stick, it really is a vaccine, that's what makes it so scary. It also works best if you take in nicotine- because that's what causes your body to create antibodies against it. THEORETICALLY (meaning i don't agree with the following- but i bet that someone is thinking about it) you could vaccinate a child, and the vaccine would begin to work only if they started smoking at some point in their lives- they wouldn't get pleasure from smoking so would never get hooked. Course, if they ate tomatoes or potatoes that could also trigger antibody production. Other things could too- since there's no data that I could find that showed that they've tested the specificity- it doesn't look like they have any good information about whether the antibodies could bind to and block some other molecule that might be really important in normal functioning.

Yep, fast tracked clinical trials for something that has potentially wide-ranging side effects, and banning something that doesn't have quite the same potential for permanent side effects.

Not only that. Nicotine is, and will be used in the future, without a doubt, to treat mmany disorders, including Parkinson's disease, ADD, dementia (including Alzheimer's) and possibly some forms of OCD. Those with antibodies in their system will not be able to benefit from therapeutic use of nicotine, methinks.

I'll go with a fancy quote - "The trouble with always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind." G.K. Chesterton.

Nice. Thanks for posting it.

I have another literary reference: Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Or is it just my generation?

[WerkIt]

#1 Screw cigarettes. Snus is so much better.
#2 Screw big pharma. I will be damned if I will help fatten their profits.
#3 There's no need whatsoever to stop nic addiction.