Jump to full article: Financial Times (uk), 2009-11-17
Author: Andrew Jack, Pharmaceuticals Correspondent
Intro: Smokers may soon be able to break their habit with an injectable vaccine that prevents nicotine in tobacco entering the brain, where it creates a highly addictive sensation of pleasure.
The NicVAX vaccine moved closer to the market yesterday after a deal between GlaxoSmithKline and the US biotech company Nabi Pharmaceuticals, which developed the product.
GSK will pay $40m (£24m) up front and as much as $500m in the future to Nabiat a time of growing concern over the heavy burden of tobacco-related diseases as one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide.
The product potentially opens a new front in the tobacco wars, with most existing so-called smoking cessation products and methods failing to prevent many people from returning to their tobacco habits.
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