Targacept: Life after nicotine

With its documented effects on the central nervous system, nicotine would be an attractive agent to investigate in various neurological conditions were it not for its side effects. Targacept, a spinout from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., is using the tobacco giant's understanding of nicotine's effects to create non-nicotine compounds with improved selectivity that it says can eliminate those problems.

Targacept was spun out of RJR in 2000 armed with years of data on the chemistry and biology of nicotine, according to President and CEO J. Donald deBethizy. Those data supported the commercial potential of targeting neuronal nicotinic receptors (NNRs) and prompted the tobacco company to formalize its research division into an R&D company. ...