ROCKVILLE, Md. – Nabi Bioparmaceuticals has inked a deal with GlaxoSmithKline to bring an experimental nicotine vaccine to the marketplace, The Washington Post reports. GlaxoSmithKline will pay an initial $40 million for exclusive global licensing rights to NicVax.
Additional money would be paid to Nabi as it meets developmental and regulatory benchmarks. Nabi could receive more than $500 million from the deal, the company said.
“It’s the biggest deal we’ve ever had,” said Raafat Fahim, Nabi’s president and CEO. NicVax is on schedule to become the company’s flagship product once it passes the final tests.
NicVax works by making the immune system produce antibodies that latch onto nicotine molecules, rendering the molecules too big to travel to the brain. The vaccine also might be helpful in stopping smoking relapses.
Other companies have tackled anti-smoking vaccines, too. Novartis and Cytos Biotechnology had a similar drug that recently did not meet expectations during testing about halfway through its development. By comparison, NicVax is in its final testing rounds, with final results expected by the end of next year.