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How a new vaccine against nicotine addiction works
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
A new vaccine against nicotine addiction has appeared, but it has only been tested on laboratory mice so far. Scientists and inventors are quite optimistic, because one dose of the drug protects animals from the craving for smoking!
The vaccine was developed at Weill Cornell Medical College, where experimental animals successfully demonstrated the liver's ability to produce antibodies that neutralize the effects of nicotine with the help of the new drug. Scientists have long been working in this direction, ensuring that the body itself cleanses the blood of poison.
Under the influence of the vaccine, the body creates its own antibodies and develops immunity to nicotine addiction. The drugs that were tested earlier required repeated, expensive injections. It was also difficult to calculate the dose of the drugs, since their effect was strictly individual.
The new vaccine will be a salvation for smokers who have already tried all existing options for fighting it, but failed. According to statistics, about 80% of people who quit smoking returned to their habit again.
Scientists are constantly looking for new ways to make the body give up nicotine addiction. Before the new drug, there were two types of vaccines: active and passive. The first type is a foreign agent for the human immune system, the body sees the "spy" and produces antibodies against it. But the tiny nicotine molecule was not built into the active vaccine. The second type is a passive vaccine from a whole complex of ready-made antibodies that are needed to develop immunity.
Weill Cornell's research department has developed a third type, a genetic vaccine. Scientists engineered antibodies that neutralize nicotine and placed them in a virus that does not harm humans. After interacting with the genetic vaccine, liver cells begin to produce their own antibodies, and in large quantities.
Most importantly, only a very small portion of the toxic nicotine reaches the smoker's brain. As a result, the person will not get what he expects from a cigarette, and without this pleasure, the very meaning of this harmful habit is lost. The vaccine can also be used as a preventive measure to prevent the development of nicotine addiction.
The vaccine has not yet been tested on humans; rats and primates are next in line, but the mice that took part in the experiment feel no worse than before it began.
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