Zyban Cheaper Than Nicotine Replacement

Glaxo Wellcome's new product to help smokers quit the habit, Zyban(bupropion HCl) sustained-release tablets, has been launched in the USA, its first market. It is the first prescription product to be made available for this indication which does not rely on nicotine replacement.

Zyban is thought to work on the biology of nicotine addiction at the level of the central nervous system. The drug is already available on prescription as an antidepressant (as Wellbutrin), and while it is not clear how it works in smokers, it is thought to affect the noradrenergic and/or dopaminergic systems which have been implicated as pathways of nicotine addiction.

The effectiveness of the drug as an aid to smoking cessation was demonstrated in two studies involving over 1,500 chronic smokers who smoked at least 15 cigarettes a day. Results from the two studies demonstrated that patients treated with Zyban at a dose of 300mg/day had more than a two-fold chance of quitting than patients treated with placebo.