New Nicotine Vaccine Looks Promising, May Obviate Risk of Chantix Side Effects

Winston-Salem, NCResearchers at Wake Forest University are hard at work on a vaccine that could ease or potentially cure one's addiction to nicotine, obviating the potential risks involved in the usage of smoking cessation drugs like Chantix. Fortunately for smokers trying to quit, the first clinical trials of the vaccine are promising.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">In their findings, which recently appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers studied how long it takes nicotine to reach peak levels in the brains of cigarette smokers by using PET imagine to observe nicotine distribution throughout the body.

The goal is to deduce why nicotine addiction affects some people more than others.

"The bottom line is that if we can effectively block nicotine entry in the brain, we will have effective therapy," writes Pradeep Garg, the lead researcher. "It could lead to better patient management and may help develop better vaccines in the future."

If successful, the vaccination could be an effective alternative to potentially dangerous smoking cessation drugs like Chantix or Zyban, which have been linked to increased cases of psychosis, including advanced aggression, mood swings and suicidal thoughts.