Anti-depressant helps smokers quit, study finds

http://www.zyban.com

From Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen

March 3, 1999
Web posted at: 8:30 p.m. EST (0130 GMT)

ATLANTA (CNN) -- A new study shows that the anti-depressant drug Zyban, when combined with counseling, is more effective at getting smokers to quit than either nicotine patches or counseling alone.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that 30 percent of patients who combined Zyban and counseling quit smoking and were still off cigarettes a year later. By contrast, 16 percent of patients who used nicotine patches and counseling stopped smoking. Counseling alone also had a 16 percent success rate.

"Zyban is not a magic bullet. It's not going to automatically turn a smoker into a nonsmoker," said Dr. Michael Fiore of the University of Wisconsin. "But if a person is motivated, in this study at least, it appears as though Zyban is the most effective treatment available today."

Zyban works on brain chemicals that induce a feeling of well-being.

"In essence, it helps to offset the drop in dopamine and epinephrine levels -- two chemicals in the brain that fall when a person quits smoking," Fiore said.

The study was funded by Glaxo-Wellcome, the drug company that makes Zyban. Many of the authors have served as consultants to the company.

Michael Eriksen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's office on smoking, who does not have any financial ties with Glaxo-Wellcome, says he, too, is impressed with Zyban.

However, he says he remains discouraged that a treatment that fails about two-thirds of the time "is considered high or the gold standard or something to get excited about."