Does it work? What are the side effects?  I’d love to hear more about this type of stop smoking aid.

I read this today:

The name of the new ’stop smoking shot’ is NicVAX, and it is being developed by a company called Nabi Biopharmaceuticals. It is an investigational vaccine to prevent and treat nicotine addiction and as an aid to smoking cessation. According to the manufacturer, it is designed to cause the immune system to produce antibodies that bind to nicotine and prevent it from entering the brain. We believe that these nicotine antibodies will act like a “sponge” soaking up nicotine as it circulates in the blood stream and preventing it from reaching the brain. The positive stimulus in the brain that is normally caused by nicotine would then no longer be present. Preclinical studies showed that vaccination with NicVAX can prevent nicotine from reaching the brain and block the effects of nicotine, including effects that can lead to addiction or can reinforce and maintain addiction.

I read that the ‘quit smoking shot’ is available and on the market, but that it’s not FDA approved to stop smoking. I heard that the drugs used in the shot are actually for treating other conditions. Does anyone have more information?

This is the only link I could find with good information on the quit smoking shot.

http://www.smokingshot.com/program/smokingshot.aspx

Looks like an interesting way to try to quit!

I already know all about the patches, gum, etc. I’ve tried them and I have way under zero willpower. But I want to quit. Does anyone have any little tricks they came up with that help? Also, a friend of mine got the ’stop smoking shot’ and claims that it worked really well for him.  I’d love to hear other people’s experiences.