so apparently there really is a cat allergy vaccine under development (also a smaller snippet at johns hopkins). the pharm company itself don't look too promising -- at all. and then there was the creepy cocain vaccine: "It has been shown in animal models that immunization with the cocaine vaccine leads to a reduction in drug-seeking behavior. We expect that immunized patients will display a similar response." or the nicotine vaccine. seems very clockwork orange-esque for some reason.

1 Comments
Leave Comment...

Evan [ 02/16/2004 21:05]: It was big news in Nature in 1997 when the "nicotinic receptor site" in the brain was characterized. And they found we are born with different quantities of this receptor, giving, I guess, different susceptibilities to this drug. Block them and you could maybe turn a hard-to-quit person into someone like my dad who quit 20 years of cigs easier than he quit coffee. In fact he failed consistantly in attempts to quit coffee. He was an 8 cup a day guy for a long time -- Holy cow!