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Comments: 237 +- Science: Anti-Smoking Vaccine Is Nearing the Market on Friday November 20, @05:30PM
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by
kdawson
on Friday November 20, @05:30PM
from the kicking-it dept.
from the kicking-it dept.
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eldavojohn writes "Almost 6 years ago we discussed a vaccine to help people quit smoking as it entered human clinical trials. Now it looks like the finishing touches have been put on a deal that will go into effect once phase III testing of the drug now called NicVAX is completed. NicVAX was developed by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, who have agreed to license it to GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals; it is expected to complete phase III testing successfully. Others have fallen short of this goal, in pursuit of a smoking-cessation market expected to hit $4.6 billion worldwide by 2016. Nabi has also sold an experimental vaccine for staph infections; and in 2008 we discussed news of a cocaine vaccine."
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Zombieland (Score:2, Interesting)
Equilibrium (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Re:Equilibrium (Score:4, Insightful)
What the hell are you talking about? Does it ever bother you, being ignorant? Don't you ever wonder what it's like to not be ignorant?
Parent
Re:Equilibrium (Score:4, Insightful)
I’m not saying you’re wrong. :)
I just wonder how you think you that insulting someone and offering nothing else than ad-hominem style non-arguments will convince us or especially him so say that you’re right? ^^
Especially since I know that some good arguments made you take that point of view in the first place. So you can definitely do much better.
Protip: To change someone’s opinion, there is no way around first agreeing with him. And being friendly enough that he listens to you. Even if he is wrong and an ass. Or your 13 year old son. No not even. Especially in those cases! :) :)
Disclaimer: Yep, I need to get better at this too.
Funny note: You used “projection”. Because your ignorance was the reason you called him ignorant. (Okay, I know, now I definitely blew it. So I’ll go now.
Parent
nicVAX? (Score:2)
Well, 'tis said that nothing sucks like a VAX.
?.?.? eh (Score:3, Funny)
Step 4, Anti-Smoking Vaccine ...
Step 5, Profit!
Step 8, Anti(Anti-Smoking) Vaccine
Step 9, Profit!
Anti-smoking-vacine vacine. (Score:2)
Easyway (Score:2)
"Vaccine" (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:"Vaccine" (Score:5, Insightful)
From TFA...
NicVAX works by stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies that bind to nicotine in the bloodstream, making the nicotine molecule too large to cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain.
So it effects the immune system to recognize some particular foreign matter and deal with it? That sounds like a vaccine to me.
Parent
Re:"Vaccine" (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Sings: They tried to send me to Rehab, (Score:2)
but I said no, no, give me the goddamn shot.
Finally, something to deal with anti-smoking (Score:4, Funny)
Like H1N1 vaccines, this anti-smoking vaccine will help eradicate anti-smoking once and for all, along with all the ill effects it's caused. People will be able to stop worrying about anti-smoking when around other people.
(Brought to you by the people who brought you cooler temperatures, larger sizes, wider width shoes, and cheaper price tags.)
So, this new vaccine... (Score:5, Funny)
Side-effects (Score:5, Funny)
Vaccine (Score:3, Funny)
My vaccine for both tobacco addiction and alcoholism was marijuana. True story.
Ibogaine (Score:5, Interesting)
The only reason why this is necessary is because a compound that already exists is illegal and not profitable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibogaine [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Wow. I didn't realize that Ibogaine could be effective for Nicotine, Alcohol, and Methamphetamine as well as opiates.
I know I'm taking a slightly off topic post and going more off topic, but does anyone have any personal experiences with Ibogaine? I know a few people who have struggled with opiate addiction. It is a struggle practically every day of their lives even after years clean. I have to remain slightly skeptical that one Ibogaine experience has such lasting effects.
I was already vaccinated (Score:3, Funny)
I was already vaccinated when I was a kid. My father said, "so help me God, if you ever smoke I will kick your a$$." He meant it too.
Re:Or (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Or (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
What about social smokers? You know, those who have a cigarette or two when having a few drinks with friends but who don't smoke otherwise?
/Mikael
Re: (Score:2)
I am lucky to have 1 or 2 a week.
I use to smoke a pack a day.
Now I don't have the cravings and could be considered a "Social smoker"
Re: (Score:2)
Ditto.
Even less because it's so much trouble to fuck-off work and have a fag, these days. No smoking in pubs. That's like no sex in hotels. Who'd've thought?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I would be interested in finding out if people with a dependence on both alcohol and tobacco would really be helped by this "vaccine" -- maybe taking the joy out of tobacco could lead to people consuming even more alcohol.
Re:Or (Score:5, Funny)
Kind of reminds me of a friend of mine's first foray into quitting smoking. He declared that he was only going to smoke when he was drinking. He did very well with that...the only problem was he ended up getting drunk twice a day.
Parent
Re:Or (Score:4, Insightful)
What if you don't need to but like too?
I don't need to have diet pepsi, but I like it.
Having a couple smokes after a long night is no big deal. Unless you live in a bubble you are getting far worse from daily exposure to car exhaust.
Parent
You're still quitting (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Or (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Or (Score:5, Interesting)
I started smoking when I was 16, and have been trying to quit ever since.. Once going over a year, only to return, though smoking less. At 24 I tried the patch and gum to no great effect. At 30 I vowed never to buy another pack, and I haven't in 3 years, however I still bum them from friends..
I just can't seem to ever quit entirely, and the idea of a vaccine that would finally let me kick the habit is one I happily welcome.
Parent
Re:Or (Score:4, Insightful)
I coach people through weight loss and smoking cessation. At the beginning I make them sign a contract that says, in part, that they understand this is a life change that will cost them their current friends and social contacts.
Few relationships can survive a life change like that. That's why it's so difficult to quit.
When you smoke or overeat, you chose friends that do the same. And you do activities that revolve around overeating or smoking.
When you quit or lose weight, you find new friends and new activities and you find that your old friends no longer are your friends. Sometimes it's just a gradual thing, but sometimes those "friends" dump loads and loads of guilt on the person trying to change their life, and do everything possible to sabotage the effort.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
will-power
Does this part of the remedy come in pill form?
Re:Or (Score:5, Insightful)
What's more, there are no side effects
Clearly you've never been addicted to something. Like, ADDICTED addicted, in the sense that your body physically feels different when you try to ween it off.
Don't get me wrong, I think you are right, that quitting is more about a person being disciplined and wanting to quit more than anything else, but to say that you won't feel anything when trying to quit is inaccurate.
Yes, you will get the shivers, and you will get the sweats, and you might even get the shakes. But you gotta fight through that shit.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
And the patch, and probably this Vaccine, essentially keep a bit of nicotine in your system, so that you don't feel those effects to lack of drug.
The drug is still in you, you just don't have all the harmful effects that come with smoking it.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem with smoking isn't just the physical dependency, it's the psychological dependency. I've talked to plenty of people who have used the patch and the gum, and the problem is as much, if not more, the associations with cigarettes. That was the toughest for me, drinking coffee and coding. Both activities were ones that I just sort of subconsciously required a cigarette for, and I'd chain smoke when I was programming. Even after the physical symptoms receded, there were times when I'd sit down wi
Re:Or (Score:5, Insightful)
*gives Kratisto nightly heroin injections for a few weeks just to see what happens*
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I don't know, I think your "just slightly" is more like a "barely". I do not use illegal drugs and have not for a good number of years. I know that tonight I could certainly get Marijuana, Cocaine, Crack, MDMA, Pharmacy grade methamphetamine (Adderall), any number of different types of pharmaceutical opiates (Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycontin..), and possibly Ketamine. Most of these I could obtain at one of several small suburban bars....hardly a seedy area. Maybe I just know a lot of people, maybe I just ha
Re:Or (Score:5, Informative)
Indeed.
I was a heavy smoker; three packs a day, and I rolled my own (so no filter to douse any of the carcinogenic goodness!) I never thought I'd quit, and really didn't want to. Then, almost nine years ago to the day, I came down with a horribly bad lung infection coupled with probably the single worst ear infection ever. I remember walking up the stairs to the second floor of my apartment would literally take about ten minutes to recover from. I realized at that moment that, while I'd probably get over this one (I was about 28 years old at the time), and I'd get over the next one, and so on, but eventually, sometime in the next fifteen to twenty years my lungs were going to be so fucked up that I'd be stuck with emphysema, probably congestive heart failure and ultimately dying by drowning in my own fluids, and that was if I was lucky, because I could also get lung cancer, and the process would be all the worse.
I threw out my tobacco, left my wallet at home when I went to work so that even if I caved in, I'd have to go out like a bumb on to the street to beg for a smoke. I ate carrots like I was a rabbit with an OCD, just so I had something to do with my mouth. The first week I was still so sick that I couldn't tell withdrawal from everything else that was wrong with me. The second week, it was tough, I was irritable and my mouth seemed to be constantly salivating. The third week it was a little better, and after a month the nic fits were coming only a couple of times a day. I called myself done after a year, and have never picked up a cigarette since.
It was tough at times, but I'm proud of myself that I didn't run to the doctor, stick a patch on, chew nicotine gum or do anything to try to wean myself. I quit cold turkey and never looked back.
Parent
Re:Or (Score:5, Interesting)
I was 1/2 to 1 pack a day for 13 years - then the day before my 26'th birth day i realized that 1 more day and i would have smoked for 1/2 my life and at that point i was a smoker never a non smoker.
looked at the one in my hand - dropped it through the pack i had away and that was it.
Sure i had cravings - i chewed tooth picks for weeks - some times i miss the flavor but to be honest i can't even stand the smell of it any more if i'm around smokers.
Congrats for quiting - and while i'm glad i quit - i'd never be a zealot to go and tell smokers they need to quit, it's a personal thing - but quitting is defiantly a mind over matter thing
Parent
Re:Or (Score:5, Insightful)
Rough going, huh? For me, it's quiet the opposite.
I've been smoking for over 20 years, and on occasion I get the urge to quit. The reason has to do with the habit itself. Any habit taken to the extreme or adopted for far too long tends to get less enjoyable as time passes.
When, I do quit, it's typically for a few weeks or maybe a few months at a time. No real withdrawl, except for the day or two, of course. By the end of that period, I come to the same conclusions. Namely, that the "benefits" of smoking (enhanced concentration, relaxation, creativity, etc.) are gone and I want them back. Not need them, but want them. Life, I think, is a bit too ordinary without a vice.
Say what you will about the dangers of smoking, it has its rewards. Besides, what else to do when having a drink, after sex, or when you need to ponder a big idea? And no, nicotine in drug form (as a safer alternative) isn't the answer any more than taking caffeine pills is a substitute for enjoy a coffee. With a cigarette of course. ;-)
As a side note, all cigarettes sold in the US and EU are now required to "fire-safe". That's an oxymoronic term for "they're doused with a chemical to retard burning and prevent fires". The result is a cigarette that doesn't burn properly and tastes like shit. If I do ever quit, it'll be because I've taken up cigars and Scotch.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
I hear will-power and the notion of a life plagued by health problems followed by an early death completed clinical trials sixty years ago. What's more, there are no side effects, and when taken properly, there is a 100% chance of success.
Oh, yes, willpower. Just like everyone getting to be an astronaut if they just want it bad enough. Nevermind the host of withdrawal symptoms, the psychological aspects of which are more severe than most people can imagine. Case in point: a veteran friend of mine quit smoking. He had his PTSD and depression under perfect control for years until his family pressured him into quitting cold-turkey because "all he needed is willpower." Things went downhill fast, but he was hassled by everyone for wanting to
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
If you're story is true, then this guy already had one foot through the Loony Tooney Mad House before he quit smoking. He should have been seeing a shrink and being monitored. Suffice it to say, most people ain't going to blow their brains out because they quit smoking, and those that do were nuts to begin with. This is like blaming Judas Priest for some dumb-ass kids' suicide pact.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Unfortunately... (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You're probably correct. It isn't hard to imagine a world where $drug_of_choice will no longer be effective for self-medication, and only prescribed pharmaceuticals will still work, because only those will be left outside of what the vaccine targets.
Although the vaccine does not reduce the cravings or withdrawal symptoms of quitting, it will reduce the rewarding effects of smoking. It is designed to curb the "high" smokers feel when they light up.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
People needing release will always find something.
In some contries around the world alcohol is not allowed.
If you think that means they have no recreational drugs (legal ones as like alcohol) then you are very naive.
The only solution to addiction is to make people happy and contented. No one seems to be interested in this. there is no money in it.\