Antidepressant Zyban More Effective Than Patch, Study Shows
In a head-to-head study of the antidepressant drug Zyban and the nicotine patch, 30 percent of participants using Zyban were still not smoking a year after treatment, compared to 16.4 percent of those who used a nicotine patch.
“That is as good as we have done with a single agent in all the time we’ve been trying to help people quit,” said Michael Fiore, director of the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention at the University of Wisconsin, which conducted the study.
The study, published in today’s NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE, treated 900 smokers for nine weeks. The report was funded by Glaxo Wellcome, who also markets Zyban.
Story ran in:
WALL STREET JOURNAL (3/4/99) Antismoking Drug Is Twice As Effective As Patch, Study Says , p. B14
USA TODAY (3/4/99) Smoke-Free Challenge , p. D1
NICOTINE TAG TEAM WORKS BETTER
Two hits of nicotine are better than one if you want to quit smoking, new research shows. A French study suggests smokers may have a better chance to beat their bad habit with a nicotine inhaler and a patch instead of just an inhaler.
At six weeks, 60.5 percent of those who used the combination had quit, while only 47.5 percent of those who used an inhaler alone had stopped, the study finds. At 12 weeks, the numbers were 42 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
After a year, it was 19.5 percent and 14 percent.
The study, conducted at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, appears in a recent issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
HealthScout (Mar 4, 2001)
by Robert Preidt / HealthScout Reporter