New smoking pill gives hope to smokers trying to give up, as trial shows a third quit after just two months
New smoking pill gives hope to smokers trying to quit as trial shows one-third quit after just two months
- Drug cytisinicline, made from East Asian trees, could help a third of smokers quit
A drug made from East Asian trees could help a third of smokers quit after just two months, according to a new trial.
Cytisinicline, a daily tablet, was found to keep smokers off cigarettes for at least five and a half months. If approved, the drug would be the only smoking cessation drug currently available in the UK.
The results stem from concerns about the safety of one of the most popular smoking cessation aids, e-cigarettes. Last week, the Local Government Association, which represents all city councils, called for a ban on disposable vapes, saying they are harmful to young people and cannot be recycled.
About 6.6 million Britons smoke – about one in ten. In 2019, the government announced plans to make Britain smoke-free by 2030, but experts say the UK is unlikely to meet the target, partly due to a lack of effective smoking cessation treatments.
Cytisinicline has been used in Eastern European countries since the 1980s as an aid to smoking cessation. It is made from Golden Rain trees – a flowering plant native to East Asia. It interferes with the brain’s receptor cells that respond to nicotine, reducing nicotine cravings and promoting withdrawal symptoms.
A drug made from East Asian trees could help a third of smokers quit after just two months, according to a new trial (stock photo)
The new study, conducted by Massachusetts General Hospital’s Tobacco Research and Treatment Center, tested the drug on 810 smokers who wanted to quit and compared their results to those of a group given a dummy pill and counseling. Volunteers took a 3 mg tablet three times a day. One group took the pill for six weeks, the other for 12 weeks. One in four of those on the six-week program stopped smoking completely, compared with about one in 20 in the placebo group.
One third dropped out in the 12-week program, compared to less than one in ten in the placebo group. After almost three months, a fifth still do not smoke. Mild side effects, such as nausea, abnormal dreams and insomnia, occurred in one in ten volunteers taking the drug.
Darush Attah-Zadeh, respiratory pharmacist at the North West London Integrated Care Board, told the Pharmaceutical Journal: “It has the potential to become the first new drug approved in nearly two decades and a major treatment option for the treatment of tobacco dependence.”