14 DAY TRIAL // Making it easier for people to quit tobacco, nicotine and cigarettes could result in millions renouncing the habit within a very short time frame. A lot of people are afraid of the period of adaptation they need to undergo in order to quit smoking. A vaccine could help in this regard, experts say.
A team of scientists at the Weill Cornell Medical College announce the successful testing of a new vaccine that they say addresses nicotine addiction in mice. In other words, it cures it completely, PsychCentral reports. The study appears in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the new study was that mice which were administered the vaccine were protected against replacing and reforming their addictions for the remainders of their respective lives. Such a substance, I daresay, would be gold for doctors.
At the same time, it would also be kryptonite for tobacco companies so, yeah, there's that. “Just as parents decide to give their children an HPV vaccine, they might decide to use a nicotine vaccine. But that is only theoretically an option at this point,” the team writes.