April 25, 2008 – Swedish vaccine against smoking enters clinical trial phase II

Independent Pharmaceutica AB today announced that the company has initiated a multi-centre phase II trial with Niccine®, a vaccine against nicotine dependence. The study will be carried out in five clinics in three Scandinavian countries and it will last during one year.

”Today there is no treatment for preventing relapse of individuals who have managed to stop smoking. Despite new and relatively effective products that help people stop smoking, about 80 % of the persons that have stopped smoking will relapse within 12 months. We estimate that Niccine® may have a considerable potential to prevent these relapses” says the CEO of Independent Pharmaceutica, Lena Degling Wikingsson.

In the clinical phase II-trial, the ability of the vaccine to prevent relapse will be measured in smokers that have recently stopped smoking with the aid of smoking cessation drug and counselling,. ”This combination of effective smoking cessation, followed by Niccine® treatment to prevent relapse, can be very interesting for individuals that have not yet managed to permanently quit smoking” says Dr Karl Olov Fagerström, coordinating principal investigator of the study, with thirty-five years of clinical experience in smoking cessation.

By vaccination with Niccine®, specific and long-lasting antibodies that can bind nicotine are induced. This nicotine-antibody complex formation prevents nicotine from reaching the brain to induce its rewarding effects. Niccine® will be relevant to all smokers, including smokers that have previously used nicotine replacement products. Initially, the vaccine will be used in relapse prevention, i.e. former smokers wanting to avoid the risk of relapse. In the future, it may also prove useful in smoking cessation, i.e. for current smokers attempting to quit.

Independent Pharmaceutica AB
Independent Pharmaceutica AB is a Swedish research and development company based at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. The company which was founded in 1997 by Professor Torgny H. Svensson, combines world class expertise in the fields of psychotropic drugs, drug dependency, smoking cessation, immunology and vaccine technology. The company has patents granted in the US, Australia and Europe that protect the unique properties of the vaccine.

For further information, please contact
Lena Degling Wikingsson CEO
Mobile: +46 70 790 0207
Phone: +46 8 508 84493 E-mail: degling-wikingsson@ipab.biz