TRIALS ON ANTI-DRUG VACCINE

A BRITISH company is leading the clinical trials into a new vaccine to cure
addiction to cocaine and nicotine.

The new treatment works with a course of three injections spaced a month
apart, with a booster jab after three years.

Cantab Pharmaceuticals, based in Cambridge, has acquired the rights to
develop the drugs from US company ImmuLogic and expects to market the
products by the year 2002. The new treatment produces antibodies that bind
to the cocaine or nicotine, blocking the effect of the drug on the brain
and neutralising its psychoactive effect - effectively eradicating the
craving.

Cantab's chief medical officer John Roberts said that the cocaine vaccine
will initially be targeted at the American market, where abuse is a major
problem. The treatment is expected to cost $600 (#375) and be available
through specialist treatment centres. The nicotine vaccine will cost $300
(#188) for the full course and be available through GPs.

It will first be targeted at the 50 million daily smokers in the United
States, of whom more than 17 million attempt to give up smoking each year.
It is expected to be available in the UK in 2003.

Checked-by: Richard Lake