Tag: smoking cessation

  • CBD Could Help Stop Smoking

    CBD Could Help Stop Smoking

    Photo: EKKAPON

    Cannabidiol (CBD) could help tobacco users quit, according to a new study published in Chemical Research in Toxicology.

    Washington State University researchers tested effects of CBD and its major metabolite on human liver tissue and cell samples and found that it inhibited a key enzyme for nicotine metabolism. Slowing nicotine metabolism could allow users to wait longer before feeling the need for more. More research is needed, but according to Philip Lazarus, Washington State University professor of pharmaceutical sciences, the findings are promising.

    “The whole mission is to decrease harm from smoking, which is not from the nicotine per se but all the carcinogens and other chemicals that are in tobacco smoke,” said Lazarus, senior author on the study. “If we can minimize that harm, it would be a great thing for human health.”

    “It appears that you don’t need much CBD to see the effect,” said Lazarus.

    Lazarus’ team is developing a clinical study to examine the effects of CBD on nicotine levels in smokers, measuring nicotine levels in their blood versus smokers taking a placebo over the course of six hours to eight hours. They hope to then do a much larger study looking at CBD and nicotine addiction.

  • Study: Vaping Better Than NRT for Cessation

    Study: Vaping Better Than NRT for Cessation

    Photo: bedya

    A new study by Queen Mary University of London, published in Addiction, shows that e-cigarettes are more effective in achieving long-term smoking reduction and cessation than nicotine-replacement therapies (NRT).

    The study randomized 135 smokers who had been unable to stop smoking with conventional treatments into two groups—one received an eight-week supply of their choice of NRT and the other received an e-cigarette starter pack with instructions to purchase further e-liquids of their choice of strength and flavor. Products were accompanied by minimal behavioral support.

    After six months, 27 percent of those in the e-cigarette group had reduced smoking by at least half compared to 6 percent in the NRT group. Of the participants in the e-cigarette group, 19 percent had stopped smoking altogether versus 3 percent in the NRT group.

    “These results have important clinical implications for smokers who have previously been unable to stop smoking using conventional treatments,” said Katie Myers Smith, lead researcher and health psychologist, in Eurasia Review. “E-cigarettes should be recommended to smokers who have previously struggled to quit using other methods, particularly when there is limited behavioral support available.”

    “This study shows e-cigarettes can be a very effective tool for people who want to stop smoking, including those who’ve tried to quit before,” said Michelle Mitchell, CEO of Cancer Research U.K., which funded the study. “And research so far shows that vaping is far less harmful than smoking. But e-cigarettes aren’t risk free, and we don’t yet know their long-term effects, so people who have never smoked shouldn’t use them.”

  • Pfizer Pauses Chantix Over Nitrosamines

    Pfizer Pauses Chantix Over Nitrosamines

    Photo: Antwon McMullen

    Pfizer on June 24 announced that it is pausing distribution of its anti-smoking treatment, Chantix, after finding elevated levels of cancer-causing agents called nitrosamines in the pills, reports Reuters. Pfizer is recalling a number of lots of the anti-smoking drug. Pfizer said the pause in distribution is out of abundance of caution and pending further testing.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has in the past reached out to companies whose drugs had nitrosamines above accepted levels. Global revenue from Chantix fell 17 percent to $919 million in 2020 as Covid-19 curbs hampered demand and Pfizer lost patent protection in the U.S. last November.

    “The benefits of Chantix outweigh the very low potential risks, if any, posed by nitrosamine exposure from varenicline on top of other common sources over a lifetime,” said Pfizer spokesperson Steven Danehy.

  • Stop-Smoking Chemicals in NZ Plants

    Stop-Smoking Chemicals in NZ Plants

    Illustration: Iamnee – Dreamstime.com

    A recent study in Addiction shows that a chemical found in many New Zealand plants, including the kowhai, is just as effective as varenicline in helping people quit smoking.

    The chemical is called cytisine and has been used in some Central and Eastern European countries for decades to help with smoking cessation. It is relatively unknown elsewhere. Not only is the chemical cheaper than other smoking cessation medications, but it also has very few known side effects.

    “This is a quitting tool that comes from a plant instead of a lab,” University of Auckland Researcher Associate Professor Natalie Walker said.

    “Identifying the potential of the cytisine component of the kowhai is part of the revitalization of matauranga Maori [Maori knowledge].”

    This is a quitting tool that comes from a plant instead of a lab.

    Natalie Walker, associate professor, University of Auckland

    The study was done in collaboration with Brunel University London and Lakes District Health Board. It involved hundreds of Maori participants from across the Bay of Plenty, many of them women.

    Participants were an average age of 43 and had been smoking for around 25 years. Twelve percent of those who took cytisine pills still were not smoking after six months while 8 percent of those who took varenicline were not smoking after six months.

    Those taking cytisine experienced fewer side effects such as nausea, headaches and difficulty sleeping. “Varenicline is New Zealand’s best smoking cessation medication available but also expensive for the government,” Walker said. “Cytisine is cheap, it works and it suits Maori and their whanau.”

    In earlier research, scientists showed that cytisine was more effective than nicotine-replacement therapy, such as nicotine patches, gum or lozenges.

  • E-Cigs Aid Cessation Only in Clinical Settings

    E-Cigs Aid Cessation Only in Clinical Settings

    Photo: Vchalup | Dreamstime

    In the form of mass-marketed consumer products, e-cigarettes do not help smokers quit cigarettes, according to a new study published Dec. 22, 2020, in the American Journal of Public Health by researchers from the University of California San Francisco.

    The authors examined both observational studies, which question people “in the wild” without specific guidance to quit, and clinical trials, in which smokers trying to quit were given free cigarettes under medical supervision.

    While e-cigarettes led to more quitting than some other therapies in clinical trial settings, the authors noted no such effect in observational studies.

    Richard Wang

    “It’s important to recognize that in clinical trials, when certain e-cigarette devices are treated more like medicine, there may actually be an effect on quitting smoking,” said study leader Richard Wang.

    “But that needs to be balanced against the risks of using these devices. Also, only seven e-cigarette devices were studied in the clinical trials. Whether the effect observed with these seven devices is the same or different than that of the thousands of different e-cigarette products available for sale is unknown.”

    The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act charges the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with allowing e-cigarettes on the market only when manufacturers can prove their tobacco-based products are “appropriate for the protection of public health.” The FDA is currently evaluating thousands of applications to sell e-cigarettes.

    “If e-cigarette consumer product use is not associated with more smoking cessation, there is no population-level health benefit for allowing them to be marketed to adults who smoke, regardless of the relative harm of e-cigarettes compared with conventional cigarettes,” said Wang.

    “Moreover, to the extent that people who smoke simply add e-cigarettes to their cigarette smoking—becoming so-called dual users—their risk of heart disease, lung disease, and cancer could increase compared with smoking alone.”

  • E-Cigarettes Prevail in Cessation Aids Study

    E-Cigarettes Prevail in Cessation Aids Study

    Photo: Milkos | Dreamstime

    E-cigarettes showed considerable promise as a smoking-cessation aid during a study in the U.K. that was recently published by Reed Wellbeing.

    The health and lifestyle service engaged in a one-year pilot from February 2019 to February 2020 to independently assess the impact of directly supplying e-cigarettes as a form of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to up to 200 participants though the One You Haringey stop-smoking service.

    Participants were given a choice between NRT, e-cigarettes or Champix. Those selecting e-cigarettes were provided with a device and pods free of charge and were supported to quit in line with treatment guidelines from the U.K. National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training.

    E-cigarettes outperformed both NRT and Champix in first-attempt quits during the trial. The devices achieved a 93 quit rate when used alone and a 72 percent quit rate when combined with NRT. NRT use resulted in a 49 percent quit rate and Champix achieved a quit rate of 57 percent.

    Twelve weeks after the trail, 100 percent of e-cigarette users were still refraining from smoking, compared with 96 percent of participants who used e-cigarettes and NRT, 84 percent of those who used NRT and 91 percent of Champix users.

  • Advocates Welcome Cessation Findings

    Advocates Welcome Cessation Findings

    Photo: Sergey Shibut – Dreamstime.com

    The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has welcomed new research that has found that vaping is 70 percent more effective in helping smokers to quit cigarettes than nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), such as patches and gum.

    The study undertaken by Cochrane, which reviewed 50 studies across the world, with more than 12,000 participants, also showed that an additional 60 percent could potentially quit smoking with nicotine containing electronic cigarettes. In addition, the review found that “there was no evidence that people using nicotine containing e-cigarettes reported more serious health problems than people using nicotine-free e-cigarettes, NRT or no therapy at all.”

    John Dunne, director of the UKVIA
    John Dunne

    John Dunne, director general at the UKVIA, said the findings add to a growing catalogue of evidence supporting vaping’s role in smoking cessation.

    “Quitting cigarettes can be difficult, which is why adult smokers must have access to the most effective tools available,” he said. “This review underlines the enormous potential vaping holds for public health, particularly as the government aims for a smoke-free U.K. by the end of the decade. We call on all stakeholders, from policymakers to health professionals, to seize the opportunity which vaping represents, and to give smokers the best chance of quitting successfully.”

    According to Dunne, the recent review builds on research by the National Institute of Health Research and Cancer Research UK, which shows that vaping was far more effective than nicotine replacement therapy products.

  • Respira to Submit Nebulizer for FDA Approval

    Respira to Submit Nebulizer for FDA Approval

    Photo: Respira Technologies

    Respira Technologies plans to submit an inhaler device to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by late 2021 for authorization as nicotine-replacement therapy.

    The company aims to disrupt a $618 billion market dominated by decades-old gums and patches from pharmaceutical companies as well as tobacco companies’ electronic nicotine-delivery devices with a nebulizer that converts nicotine to an aerosol.

    Based in West Hollywood, California, USA, Respira Technologies says that the Covid-19 pandemic has sparked new interest in quitting, and today’s users of vapor devices and e-cigarettes need updated cessation products.

    “The reality is we have folks who are addicted to nicotine who never tried combustible products before,” Respira CEO Mario Danek told Bloomberg Technology, referring to tobacco products that are burned like cigarettes and cigars.

    “They’re used to sleeker products, and we have that design.”

  • AMA remains opposed to e-cig’s smoking-cessation claims

    The American Medical Association (AMA) has announced a new policy that will further strengthen its support of the regulatory oversight of e-cigarettes. The update is an extension of the organization’s existing policy, which calls for all e-cigarettes to be subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations that apply to cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.

    The AMA’s new policy calls for laws and regulations that would set the minimum legal age to buy e-cigarettes and e-liquids at 21; mandate child-resistant containers for e-liquids; and enforce laws against the sale of tobacco products to minors. The existing policy also seeks a ban on claims that e-cigarettes are effective tools for smoking cessation.

    “Improving the health of the nation is AMA’s top priority, and we will continue to advocate for policies that help reduce the burden of preventable diseases like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, both of which can be linked to smoking,” said AMA president Robert M. Wah.

  • Prison doesn’t work, not for quitters

    A new study has found that behavioral intervention provided to U.S. prison inmates who smoked before going to jail substantially increased their ability to remain smoke-free after release, according to a report by MedPage Today.

    Most prisons in the U.S. are tobacco-free, with about 60 percent having total tobacco bans for staff and inmates, so most people entering the prison system are forced into abstinence.

    Despite this, about 97 percent of prisoners who were smokers on being sent to prison return to smoking almost immediately upon release.

    But three weeks after release, participants assigned to the behavioral intervention, known as Working Inside for Smoking Elimination (WISE), were 4.4 times more likely to refrain from smoking than those in a control group, according to Jennifer G. Clarke, MD, and colleagues at the Brown University Center for Primary Care and Prevention in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

    In addition, in a multivariate analysis that controlled for factors such as age, ethnicity, and duration of smoking, the WISE participants were 6.6 times more likely to be smoke-free at three weeks, the researchers reported in their study, which was published online by JAMA Internal Medicine on April 8, that “forced smoking abstinence [was] not enough for smoking cessation.”