Vectorized Anti-Nicotine Antibody for Smoking Cessation

Background & Unmet Need

• Cigarette smoking accounts for one of every five deaths in the US
• While counseling and medication therapies can be effective, only 7.5% of smokers successfully quit each year due to the highly addictive nature of nicotine
• One therapeutic approach is to develop an anti-nicotine vaccine, in which nicotine is administered to induce antibodies which can later sequester nicotine
• Clinical trials of anti-nicotine vaccines show varied immune responses among participants, and only a small percentage successfully quit smoking
• Anti-Nicotine mAbs have shown efficacy in sequestering nicotine in animal models, but repeated antibody administration may lower adherence
• Unmet Need: An effective strategy to induce a persistent immune response to nicotine and aid in smoking cessation

Technology Overview

• The Technology: An adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector encoding an anti-nicotine antibody to induce immune response against nicotine
• PoC Data: Mice injected with this vector produced high concentrations of antibodies with high specificity and affinity for nicotine
• The antibodies effectively sequestered serum nicotine with systemic administration in mice, reducing brain nicotine concentrations to only 15% of those in untreated mice
• Nicotine-induced suppression of the cardiovascular and locomotive activity were abolished or greatly reduced in mice that expressed the antibodies

Technology Applications

• Gene therapy for smoking cessation
• Gene therapy for clinical indications associated with smoking, such as Critical Limb Ischemia or Buerger’s Disease

Technology Advantages

• Produces high-titer, high-affinity and specific antibodies against nicotine
• Induces persistent expression of anti-nicotine antibodies
• Less demanding treatment regimen than repeated administration of monoclonal antibodies