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.

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