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First clinical trial of an anti-smoking vaccine begins
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
American researchers are close to completing their work on creating a vaccine against smoking. Its effectiveness will be ensured by the use of nanoparticles. Nicotine molecules will not be able to reach the brain, and smoking a cigarette will no longer be enjoyable.
Specialists from the young American company Selecta Biosciences, founded by employees of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, report that they are beginning clinical trials of the first anti-smoking vaccine in the history of medicine, which will use synthetic nanoparticles.
The vaccine was named SEL-068. The essence of the revolutionary invention is the creation of synthetic nanoparticles that have the ability to recognize nicotine molecules in the blood and bind to them. The new molecules formed as a result of such a fusion become too large to overcome the blood-brain barrier, as a result of which they cannot penetrate the brain and affect the receptors of its corresponding section.
Experiments with laboratory animals have shown the high efficiency of SEL-068 and now, in the first stage of clinical trials, the authors of the vaccine will have to prove its safety for treating people with nicotine addiction.
The authors warn that, unlike existing smoking substitution methods using nicotine patches, nicotine chewing gum and special preparations that provide a small amount of nicotine to the body and ease withdrawal symptoms, smokers who decide to “get vaccinated” with the new drug will have to endure all the unpleasant sensations associated with quitting the bad habit.
The fact is that SEL-068 almost completely blocks the flow of nicotine into the brain, and even if a smoker decides to take a couple of puffs of a cigarette, he will not experience the desired relief.
However, the advantage of the new drug is not only its “radicality”, but also its low cost of production.