Dr. Steven B. Sands

GROTON, Conn. - Steven B. Sands remembers a childhood in Los Angeles filled with sneezing, wheezing and coughing.

"My father smoked and my whole childhood was spent telling him, 'Dad, please put out the cigarette. . . . Please put it out,"' Sands recalled.

Decades later, Sands could be on the brink of a breakthrough that could enable a lot of people to put out their cigarettes.A senior research investigator in the Department of Neuroscience at Pfizer Inc., he's heading up the development of the first non-nicotine medication specifically aimed at helping people quit smoking.At Pfizer, it's known as CP-526,555.

About half the smokers who took the drug during a recent clinical trial were still smoke free after a month.

Taken in pill form, the medication still has a long way to go before it wins final approval from the Food and Drug Administration.Barring any unforeseen problems, it could be available by prescription in several years.
...
Sands, 44, came to the Pfizer research laboratories in Groton nine years ago for the express purpose of developing a quit-smoking drug.An electrophysiologist, he did his graduate studies at the University of California-Irvine on the nicotinic receptors in the human brain.The receptors are the brain's telegraph office, receiving and deciphering chemical messages.

Sands focused his work on the receptors that interact with the nicotine found in cigarettes, providing smokers with feelings of relaxation, lower levels of anxiety and heightened focus and creating a craving for the drug.He and his core research team of 30 scientists wanted a molecule that would interfere with these receptors.Several hundred molecules were synthesized and analyzed before the researchers settled on CP-526,555.

The drug acts in two ways, according to Sands.It provides some of the same chemical satisfaction as nicotine, reducing craving for cigarettes, and at the same time blocks the favorable response nicotine produces.This should mean that if someone falls off the wagon and has a few cigarettes, he or she won't experience the expected chemical and psychological responses.Hopefully, that will keep the person from returning to smoking, he said.

If successful, the drug could help millions end their addiction.And, with an estimated 47 million cigarette smokers in the United States, most of whom want to quit, a successful cessation drug likely would be a blockbuster for Pfizer.

"Every three days in the United States the same number of people who were killed in the twin towers attack die as a result of cigarette smoking," Sands said."I personally can't think of anything I'd rather be working on than that, something that has the biggest possible public health impact in the country."

...
As for the nicotine patch, Sands said he has trouble with the logic of supplying people with nicotine to help them quit smoking, saying it was akin to giving an alcoholic alcohol to stop drinking.He said the patch has not proved particularly effective though he was unable to cite any studies to back up that claim.

Still not well understood is the role environmental cues play in supporting the smoking habit.A morning coffee, a break from work, a stressful situation or a car ride can prompt smokers to light up.It remains to be seen how successful any drug can be in breaking the psychological grip of such cues, Sands said.

Happily, Sands came to learn that his own encounter with the second-hand smoke produced by his father had no devastating effect on him.Sands realized that he had not been the sickly kid he thought he was.

"Over the years what I've come to realize is I don't have any allergies, except maybe a touch of hay fever in the spring," he said."I'm fine.I think what it really points out is that I had these terrible allergies because I was being overly sensitized by the cigarette smoke."

Sands' father eventually quit smoking, but only after a mild heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery.Sands is hopeful that the drug he's helping to develop will enable others to quit before things get that bad.

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Dr. Steve Sands, Senior Research Investigator for Pfizer and Dr. Karen Reeves, Executive Director of Clinical Development say, "Our team has been looking since 1993 for a smoking cessation compound that can treat the underlying causes of nicotine addiction.

Photograph of Dr. Steve Sands, Senior Research Investigator, Pfizer and Dr. Karen Reeves, Executive Director, Clinical Development, Pfizer
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Dr. Steve SandsSENIOR RESEARCH INVESTIGATOR, PFIZER

Pfizer neuroscience researcher Steven B. Sands is working on developing a drug that will turn off the craving for nicotine.

Groton –– Steven B. Sands remembers a childhood in Los Angeles filled with sneezing, wheezing and coughing.

"My father smoked and my whole childhood was spent telling him, 'Dad, please put out the cigarette. ... Please put it out.' " Sands recalled.

Decades later, Sands could be on the brink of a breakthrough that could enable a lot of people to put out their cigarettes.A senior research investigator in the Department of Neuroscience at Pfizer Inc., he's heading up the development of the first non-nicotine medication specifically aimed at helping people quit smoking.At Pfizer, it's known as CP-526,555.

About half the smokers who took the drug during a recent clinical trial were still smoke free after a month.

Taken in pill form, the medication still has a long way to go before it wins final approval from the Food and Drug Administration.Barring any unforeseen problems, it could be available by prescription in several years.
...
Sands, 44, came to the Pfizer research laboratories in Groton nine years ago for the express purpose of developing a quit-smoking drug.An electrophysiologist, he did his graduate studies at the University of California-Irvine on the nicotinic receptors in the human brain.The receptors are the brain's telegraph office, receiving and deciphering chemical messages.

Sands focused his work on the receptors that interact with the nicotine found in cigarettes, providing smokers with feelings of relaxation, lower levels of anxiety and heightened focus and creating a craving for the drug.He and his core research team of 30 scientists wanted a molecule that would interfere with these receptors.Several hundred molecules were synthesized and analyzed before the researchers settled on CP-526,555.

The drug acts in two ways, according to Sands.It provides some of the same chemical satisfaction as nicotine, reducing craving for cigarettes, and at the same time blocks the favorable response nicotine produces.This should mean that if someone falls off the wagon and has a few cigarettes, he or she won't experience the expected chemical and psychological responses.Hopefully, that will keep the person from return ing to smoking, he said.

If successful, the drug could help millions end their addiction.And, with an estimated 47 million cigarette smokers in the United States, most of whom want to quit, a successful cessation drug likely would be a blockbuster for Pfizer.

"Every three days in the United States the same number of people who were killed in the twin towers attack die as a result of cigarette smoking," Sands said."I personally can't think of anything I'd rather be working on than that, something that has the biggest possible public health impact in the country."

...
As for the nicotine patch, Sands said he has trouble with the logic of supplying people with nicotine to help them quit smoking, saying it was akin to giving an alcoholic alcohol to stop drinking.He said the patch has not proved particularly effective though he was unable to cite any studies to back up that claim.

Still not well understood is the role environmental cues play in supporting the smoking habit.A morning coffee, a break from work, a stressful situation or a car ride can prompt smokers to light up.It remains to be seen how successful any drug can be in breaking the psychological grip of such cues, Sands said.

Happily, Sands came to learn that his own encounter with the second-hand smoke produced by his father had no devastating effect on him.Sands realized that he had not been the sickly kid he thought he was.

"Over the years what I've come to realize is I don't have any allergies, except maybe a touch of hay fever in the spring," he said."I'm fine.I think what it really points out is that I had these terrible allergies because I was being overly sensitized by the cigarette smoke."

Sands' father eventually quit smoking, but only after a mild heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery.Sands is hopeful that the drug he's helping to develop will enable others to quit before things get that bad.

p.choiniere@theday.com

GROTON -- Steven B. Sands remembers a childhood in Los Angeles filled with sneezing, wheezing and coughing.

"My father smoked and my whole childhood was spent telling him, 'Dad, please put out the cigarette. ... Please put it out,"' Sands recalled.

Decades later, Sands could be on the brink of a breakthrough that could enable a lot of people to put out their cigarettes.A senior research investigator in the Department of Neuroscience at Pfizer Inc., he's heading up the development of the first non-nicotine medication specifically aimed at helping people quit smoking.

At Pfizer, it's known as CP-526,555.

About half the smokers who took the drug during a recent clinical trial were still smoke free a month later.

Taken in pill form, the medication has a long way to go before it wins final approval from the Food and Drug Administration.Barring any unforeseen problems, it could be available by prescription in several years.
...
Sands, 44, came to the Pfizer research laboratories in Groton nine years ago for the express purpose of developing a quit-smoking drug.An electrophysiologist, he did his graduate studies at the University of California-Irvine on the nicotinic receptors in the human brain.The receptors are the brain's telegraph office, receiving and deciphering chemical messages.

Sands focused his work on the receptors that interact with the nicotine found in cigarettes, providing smokers with feelings of relaxation, lower levels of anxiety and heightened focus and creating a craving for the drug.He and his core research team of 30 scientists wanted a molecule that would interfere with these receptors.Several hundred molecules were synthesized and analyzed before the researchers settled on CP-526,555.

The drug acts in two ways, according to Sands.It provides some of the same chemical satisfaction as nicotine, reducing craving for cigarettes, and at the same time blocks the favorable response nicotine produces.This should mean that if someone falls off the wagon and has a few cigarettes, he or she won't experience the expected chemical and psychological responses.He said that he hopes that will keep the person from returning to smoking.

If successful, the drug could help millions end their addiction.And, with an estimated 47 million cigarette smokers in the United States, most of whom want to quit, a successful cessation drug likely would be a blockbuster for Pfizer.

"Every three days in the United States the same number of people who were killed in the twin towers attack die as a result of cigarette smoking," Sands said."I personally can't think of anything I'd rather be working on than that, something that has the biggest possible public health impact in the country."

...
As for the nicotine patch, Sands said he has trouble with the logic of supplying people with nicotine to help them quit smoking, saying it was akin to giving an alcoholic alcohol to stop drinking.He said the patch has not proved particularly effective though he was unable to cite any studies to support that claim.

Still not well understood is the role that environmental cues play in supporting the smoking habit.A morning coffee, a break from work, a stressful situation or a car ride can prompt smokers to light up.It remains to be seen how successful any drug can be in breaking the psychological grip of such cues, Sands said.

Sands' father eventually quit smoking, but only after a mild heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery.Sands hopes the drug he's helping to develop will enable others to quit before things get that bad.

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