Several weeks ago I blogged about a vaccine that is being tested for use in the prevention or treatment of nicotine dependence.
http://yourhealtheducator.blogspot.com/2009/10/drug-abuse.html
This same vaccine, known as NicVax, was discussed in an USA Today piece this morning. There was no new information in the article. It discussed how the vaccine worked and that the National Institutes of Health had granted 10 million dollars to the company that has made the vaccine. There were phase one and two trials, but now the drug will be used in very large phase three clinical trials. The ten million is for the clinical trials.
Before I saw the article in the paper, I had read on line that GlaxoSmithKline was working on a licensing agreement with the company that makes the vaccine. The company is Nabi Biopharmaceuticals. The agreement will give GSK exclusive rights to market and sell the drug should it be FDA approved for use. GSK is paying 40 million dollars up front for this and Nabi expects that with all "fees and regulatory, developmental and sales milestones" it could net 500 million. They will also benefit from royalty fees.
A reason GSK, who produces and sells the nicotine patch, gum and lozenge, could be forward thinking and hoping on this can be found in a statement from the USA Today article. The statement was comparing the nicotine vaccine and the similar cocaine vaccine. It is felt that the nicotine vaccine is going to have a lot more support from drug companies because it "would be much more profitable."
So as I said before, if anyone can beat Big T it is going to be Big P, and I AM right about this!
