Chicago (August 7, 2000) -- Data presented today from an analysis of a study evaluating maintenance use of ZYBAN® (bupropion HCl) Sustained-Release 150 mg Tablets may shed some light on the challenges faced by people who try to quit smoking but subsequently return to it, a common problem for the approximately 23 million people who try to quit smoking each year in the U.S. The analysis, presented at the 11th World Congress on Tobacco or Health, found that people who used placebo to quit smoking cited "overwhelming cravings" as the most frequent reason for returning to smoking; whereas craving was the sixth most reason cited among people who used the smoking cessation aid Zyban (bupropion HCl) Sustained-Release 150 mg Tablets.
"Although some people can successfully quit smoking on their first attempt, understanding the person who returns to smoking has been a challenging issue for researchers and public health advocates," said Michael Durcan, Ph.D., Principal Clinical Research Scientist for the Central Nervous System Clinical Research Group of Glaxo Wellcome, the maker of Zyban, the only non-nicotine pill approved by the FDA as an aid to smoking cessation treatment. On average, smokers attempt to quit five times before succeeding.1* In acknowledgement of that fact, the US Public Health Service recently issued a definitive guideline advising medical professionals to treat tobacco dependence more like a chronic condition.
In the maintenance use study, 784 smokers were placed on seven weeks of therapy with Zyban and given brief counseling. At week seven, the 432 patients who had not smoked in the past seven days then continued for 45 weeks on either the drug or placebo. At the end of the study, the smokers who returned to smoking (128 in the placebo group and 116 in the group treated with Zyban) were asked to choose factors they felt contributed to their return to smoking. The placebo users most frequently cited "overwhelming craving" (49.2%)
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Contact: Holly Russell
919-483-2839
Cooney Waters Group, Inc.
6-Aug-2000