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Drug studied at MGH takes buzz out of nicotine
Jump to full article: Boston (MA) Herald, 2009-11-15
Author: Jessica Fargen / Making The Rounds
Intro: Leslie Cook was losing control of her life one cigarette at time, 20 cigarettes a day.
The 53-year-old Boston real estate lawyer spent nearly half her life smoking, and nothing - not patches, gum, gurus or drugs - loosened the grip of nicotine.
"I just felt like it owned me. It controlled me," said Cook, who finally kicked the habit in 2007 with the help of an experimental vaccine called NicVax, which took away the pleasure of nicotine.
"I don't miss it to this day," said Cook, who participated in a clinical trial at Massachusetts General Hospital testing the drug.
Buoyed by the success of the first trial, MGH researchers are looking for more smokers like Cook who are willing to join in the third and final phase of a clinical trial testing the crave-curbing vaccine. Last week, researchers enrolled 50 smokers.
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