GlaxoSmithKline signs smoking vaccine licensing agreement with Nabi

Melly Alazraki

Not two months after the Swiss start-up Cytos's experimental anti-smoking vaccine failed in a mid-stage study, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (NABI) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have signed a licensing agreement for Nabi's own anti-smoking vaccine, NicVAX. The deal, which could potentially be worth more than half a billion dollars, helped push NABI shares 25% higher.
NicVAX is an experimental therapy for the treatment of nicotine addiction and the prevention of smoking relapse. The vaccine is designed to stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies that bind to the nicotine molecules. Once bound together, they are too large to cross the blood-brain barrier. In this way, the nicotine is blocked from reaching the receptors in the brain that cause the highly-addictive pleasure sensation experienced by smokers and users of nicotine products. When nicotine is prevented from supplying them the sensation they crave, smokers have an easier time kicking the habit.
"If approved, this smoking cessation vaccine technology could be a novel solution to help the millions of smokers who want to stop smoking and remain abstinent; a habit that is well documented to be very hard to stop permanently," said Jean Stephenne, president of GSK Biologicals.
Indeed, smokers who try to stop often relapse. According to Nabi, pre-clinical and clinical data show that NicVAX can help people quit smoking. But what's also crucial is that because the antibodies remain in the blood stream for 6 to 12 months, Nabi believes the vaccine could also be effective in preventing smoking relapse. Currently available smoking cessation therapies, the companies said, have relapse rates that can be as high as 90% in the first year after a smoker quits.

Click here for the full story: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/16/glaxosmithkline-signs-smoking-vaccine-licensing-agreement-with-n/

Obesity linked to specific cancers

About 100,500 new cases of cancer are caused by obesity every year, according to the most comprehensive attempt ever to estimate the cancers attributed to extra weight.
The analysis, released today by the American Institute for Cancer Research, is based on updated cancer data and a report released earlier this year by a panel of experts. Among the types of cancer most strongly linked to excess body fat:

•Breast, 33,000 cases a year caused by obesity.
•Endometrial, 20,700 cases a year.
•Kidney, 13,900 cases.
•Colorectal, 13,200 cases.
•Pancreas, 11,900.
•Esophagus, 5,800.
•Gallbladder, 2,000.

For the full story: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-11-05-obesity_N.htm

VFHY Central Region RAB to meet Nov. 6 in Charlottesville

The Regional Advisory Board of the Central region will be meeting this Friday, from 10:30am to noon, at the Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center. This meeting is being conducted to bring the members of the advisory board up to date on the happenings of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, and to give 2 regional grantees the opportunity to show off what they are doing with their VFHY funded programs.

The agenda for this meeting can be obtained by contacting me directly. If you are interested in presenting at an RAB meeting, please contact me and I will get you on our next meetings agenda.