The Canadian Institute of Health Research is investing more than $68,000 into a northeastern hospital for research on a smoking vaccine. Health Sciences North received the funding for the research, which is going to focus on stopping nicotine in the airways, to limit its entry into a smoker’s brain. Preliminary results show that levels of nicotine in vaccinated mice were four times lower than those without the vaccine.
The vaccine won’t be administered through a needle, which HSN says will make it more cost-effective than traditional vaccines. Instead, it will be administered through through the nose, skin, or under the tongue. Human clinical trials will start once safety testing has finished in animals.
The goal is to help smokers quit, and to prevent smoking all together.
(Written by: Taylor Ablett)
