Old, cheap drug helps smokers quit

A low cost medication which contains cytisine, a nicotine substitute derived from laburnum seeds may effectively help smokers kick their habit. Tabex, a pill developed in Bulgaria during the Soviet era has been available in Eastern Europe for over four decades but insufficient evidence about its efficacy deprived it from modern global market. A new study of 740 smokers in Poland have provided further support for the herbal based medication which may become a new cost benefit tool for helping tobacco smokers. During the study, half of the participants received a daily dose of cytisine for 25 days while the others got just placebo pills. After one year, 2.4 percent of those on dummy pills had stopped smoking while the rate of success was 8.4 percent for those on cytisine. Analyses suggested that the medication triples a person's chance of successfully giving up tobacco compared to a placebo, researchers wrote in New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The new study evaluated cytisine vs. placebo pills but didn't compare the effectiveness of the medications with far expensive drugs that are popular in rich countries. Cytisine "is so cheap that even in developing countries, if you can afford to smoke, you can afford to stop," said lead researcher Dr. Robert West of University College London. Reportedly, generic versions of cytisine cost between 5 to 17 dollars a month in global market while an eight-week supply of nicotine patches costs about 100 dollars and a 12-week course of chantix pill costs about 300 dollars.