A new solution to stop smoking?
Une nouvelle solution pour arrêter de fumer ?
The French company NFL Biosciences is developing NFL-101, a plant-based drug extracted from tobacco and initially developed by the Pasteur Institute in France to desensitize tobacco factory workers who developed skin allergies to tobacco leaves from handling them.
The active ingredient is a protein that the mesotherapy practitioner at the Clinique du Parc in Orange, Dr. Jean-Pierre Nicolas, has evaluated as an aid to smoking cessation. First, Dr. Jean-Pierre Nicolas, co-founder of NFL Biosciences, administered by subcutaneous injection one or two doses of the product in high concentration to smokers wishing to stop smoking. The smokers’ reactions were so enthusiastic that Dr. Nicolas ended up treating 10,000 patients over 10 years. A randomized retrospective analysis of 290 of the 1,750 patients treated by Dr. Nicolas in 2003 was conducted in 2006, showing excellent safety and a remarkable efficacy of 44% continuous abstinence over 12 months.
In 2021, NFL-101 entered a Phase II/III clinical trial that has been approved in several countries. This is an international, multi-center, randomized, double-blind clinical trial comparing two doses of NFL-101 to placebo in 318 patients.
© Photo credit: NFL Biosciences