UNITED STATES CLEARS WAY FOR NEW TRIAL OF COCAINE 'VACCINE'

As 900,000 people seek treatment for cocaine addiction in the United States
alone each year, according to Xenova CEO David Oxlade, the Food and Drug
Administration has approved continued clinical trials of the TA-CD vaccine
against addiction to the drug. The vaccine works by attaching antigenic
proteins to cocaine that allows antibodies to clear the substance from the
body before it can produce the desired high for drug users. The trials had
been suspended when a related Xenova product, a nicotine vaccine, caused
eye irritation in preclinical animal tests; however, further tests
indicated that the irritation was only in rabbits. The clinical trials are
being supported with about $1 million annually from the National Institute
on Drug Abuse.