Nicotine vaccine - preliminary results

[curiousJan]

Nicotine vaccine effective in early tests - CNN.com

The first comment really struck me ... so I had to register and respond. Why is it that some people feel that they have the right to dictate to the rest of us what we should or should not do?

Jan

 

[Katmar]

Great comment, Jan. Very well said!!

 

[PaulB]

To me, tobacco/nicotine control is, by a long shot, THE hardest test of American freedom. And America flunks.

 

[Tampa2]

You have to know from CNN'S previous posts whose pocket they are in!

 

[TropicalBob]

This story has nothing to do with CNN being in "anyone's pocket." It's a very straight report of something we should all be concerned with.

If this gets FDA approval in 2011, the anti's and FDA will be able to say that there are cures and a vaccine for the "disease of nicotine addiction" that many of us here know well. There will be no "reason" for smokefree alternatives to exist. Those smokeless alternatives can be regulated out of existence or banned at that time.

You could not pay me enough money to get a nicotine vaccine. I like nicotine and never want to be without it. Besides, the overlooked point here is that it isn't nicotine that threatens most smokers' health; it's particulates and tars and chemicals inhaled from combusted tobacco. The hazard is smoke, people! Smokefree products are amout 99% hazard-free.

Do not bet on reason to prevail. The anti motto now is "there is no such thing as a safe tobacco product", so all tobacco and nicotine products that are not prescribed to cure addiction are not welcome in the marketplace.

 

[Vocalek]

I would not go anywhere near this vaccine for the same reason that I would never try Chantix. Both interfere with dopamine.

The researchers have their heads so wrapped around "pleasure response" that they ignore the other very necessary services performed by dopamine.

Dopamine Neurotransmitter Function

A shortage of dopamine can cause a lack of controlled movements such as those experienced in Parkinson disease.

Dopamine moves into the frontal lobe and regulates the flow of information coming in from other areas of the brain. A shortage or problem with the flow of dopamine can cause a person to lose the ability to think rationally, demonstrated in schizophrenia. Also, an excess of dopamine in the limbic system and not enough in the cortex may produce a suspicious personality and possible paranoia. A shortage of Dopamine in the frontal lobe can reduce one’s memory. An increase of dopamine into the frontal lobe relieves pain and boosts feelings of pleasure.

Anhedonia, the inability to experience any pleasure, is quite rare. According to one web site, only 43 of the 13,476 people who have Chantix side effects experienced anhedonia. As someone who experienced the deepest depression you can possibly imagine when I stopped all nicotine intake, I'm not willing to risk it.

I believe that a possible biological explanation for why some people experience depression, anxiety, confusion, inability to concentrate, and memory problems when they stop using nicotine is dopamine deficiency triggered by lack of nicotine. The really bad thing about this vaccine is if you find out--after taking it--that lack of nicotine triggers these symptoms, taking nicotine will no longer correct the problems.

Then what do you do? Start taking a chemical soup of antidepressants, ant-anxiety medications, methylphenidate and/or donepezil? And then what do you do about the side effects of those meds?

 

[Meat]

Hey, this is great. Soon we can have a "unhealthy foods" vaccine, and a "bad thoughts" vaccine once these brave pioneers figure it all out. To be responsible though, they should also vaccinate us so we cant move at all, and thereby reduce the risk of us harming ourselves or others.

:edit: Maybe they could vaccinate me as well for beer. That chocolate stout I just had was far too delicious, and will obviously lead me down the road to alcoholism

 

[Vocalek]

OMG. Chocolate stout! I am sure they only put the flavoring in to get children hooked on stout, which is a gateway drug to alcoholism.

 

[HelltoHeaven]

This phamaceutical company still dont get it. Smoking is not just the nicotine problem, the worst part about smokers keep going back to analogs is the mental/psychological/habitual factors. The act of smoking has become part of our mind set, part of our daily routine, is inside us.

 

[martha1014]

The nicotine causes release of dopamine that increases pleasure. Sounds like to me this vaccine would prevent nicotine from reaching the brain. I believe this would still cause withdrawal you just would not be able to satisfy it. Our brains are use to getting the nicotine for this pleasure and that is what causes the addiction. I don't believe I would be able to go through this. Is this the way this vaccine would work or am I missing something.

 

[Kate51]

I for one am rather leery about anything that 'stimulates' the immune system, for heaven's sakes!! That sounds like Nuclear Warfare, if you ask me.
I was a guinea pig for a 'suppressant' that was supposed to prevent my RA from progressing, the side effects were not pretty at all! In fact, they were downright life threatening, so I don't understand this at all.

 

[curiousJan]

I would not go anywhere near this vaccine for the same reason that I would never try Chantix. Both interfere with dopamine.

The researchers have their heads so wrapped around "pleasure response" that they ignore the other very necessary services performed by dopamine.

Dopamine Neurotransmitter Function

Anhedonia, the inability to experience any pleasure, is quite rare. According to one web site, only 43 of the 13,476 people who have Chantix side effects experienced anhedonia. As someone who experienced the deepest depression you can possibly imagine when I stopped all nicotine intake, I'm not willing to risk it.

I believe that a possible biological explanation for why some people experience depression, anxiety, confusion, inability to concentrate, and memory problems when they stop using nicotine is dopamine deficiency triggered by lack of nicotine. The really bad thing about this vaccine is if you find out--after taking it--that lack of nicotine triggers these symptoms, taking nicotine will no longer correct the problems.

Then what do you do? Start taking a chemical soup of antidepressants, ant-anxiety medications, methylphenidate and/or donepezil? And then what do you do about the side effects of those meds?

I for one am rather leery about anything that 'stimulates' the immune system, for heaven's sakes!! That sounds like Nuclear Warfare, if you ask me.
I was a guinea pig for a 'suppressant' that was supposed to prevent my RA from progressing, the side effects were not pretty at all! In fact, they were downright life threatening, so I don't understand this at all.

Exactly. Neither do I. Those of us who are self-medicating some sort of dopamine deficiency or other physiological condition would not be well served by this vaccine at all. In fact for some I think this would only lead to a life of inflammatory pain, anxiety, depression and a myriad of other very bad things ... that or complete dependency upon pharmaceuticals and the sometimes intolerable side-effects that are inextricably associated with them.

Jan

 

[Vocalek]

And just like they did with Chantex, people with any pre-existing depression, anxiety, etc. are being excluded from the study.

•Significant cardiovascular, hepatic, renal, psychiatric and/or respiratory disease.

NicVAX/Placebo as an Aid for Smoking Cessation - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

So I believe it is a good bet that when they approve this and it can be prescribed for anyone and everyone, we are going to be seeing the same sort of deadly results as Chantix. The really sad thing is that even if they were to put a warning on it not to prescribe it for those with depression/anxiety, there would still be people injured or killed because they didn't KNOW they had a problem.

I never, ever needed medication for depression until I stopped using nicotine -- then blam! It is probable that I had the depression all along, but the nicotine was keeping it under control.

 

[Chiqa]

My husband has bi polar with all the fun stuff that goes along with that diagnosis. Not a chance in hell this would be good for him, anymore than chantix etc would be. If it where a choice between the shot and analogs,, he would "Have" to stay with the analogs.

 

[Our House]

Withdrawal with no relief? NO THANKS!

The sad thing is that too many people will only find out what that really means once it's too late! Is this vaccine permanent? (I sure hope not)

 

[sherid]

You could never pay me enough money to even consider being a guinea pig for this chemical lobotomy known as a nicotine vaccine.

 

[CES]

I think that antibody binding does prevent nicotine from reaching the brain- so yes, there would be no relief for cravings (sounds absolutely horrible). In fact I think some of the earliest reports suggest that increased nicotine use increased the production of antibodies and the effectiveness of the vaccine. However, the preliminary reports that I've read don't address the specificity of the antibodies (do they bind ONLY what they're supposed to bind; I'll look for the references again found 'em), and that the nicotine bound by antibodies are sequestered in other tissues in the body.

http://www.nabi.com/pipeline/pipeline.php?id=3

A Vaccine for Nicotine Dependence: Targeting the Drug Rather than the Brain

ScienceDirect - International Journal of Immunopharmacology : Vaccination against nicotine during continued nicotine administration in rats: immunogenicity of the vaccine and effects on nicotine distribution to brain

ScienceDirect - International Immunopharmacology : Tissue-dependent effects of immunization with a nicotine conjugate vaccine on the distribution of nicotine in rats

 

[the86d]

...Why is it that some people feel that they have the right to dictate to the rest of us what we should or should not do? ...

Because "SOMEBODY" voted PINKO!

 

[Raven1]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't vaccines supposed to prevent disease? Tobacco addiction is not a disease, therefore it would be senseless to vaccinate someone who's already addicted to it. So I would assume this "vaccine" would be more effective for people who've never been smokers, i.e. children.

 

[rothenbj]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't vaccines supposed to prevent disease? Tobacco addiction is not a disease, therefore it would be senseless to vaccinate someone who's already addicted to it. So I would assume this "vaccine" would be more effective for people who've never been smokers, i.e. children.

That sounds like what would make perfect sense, to, well we know WHO they are. A mandatory vaccine for all children passed into law by the world's governments. We have saved the children, the world is safe from the devil nicotine. Now let the smokers smoke and the vapors vape and the snusers snus, and the chewers chew. They'll all soon be dead of the horrible, debilitating diseases the anti-tobacco Nazis insist only tobacco users get soon enough and the world will be cured.....

Sugar vaccine anyone?