Smokers Taking Old Generic Drug Are Twice as Likely to Quit

  • Cytisine will go on sale in UK via prescription this month
  • Consilient to sell tablets almost 5 years after regulatory nod

Cytisine has been used in eastern Europe since the 1960s to help people give up smoking under brand names such as Tabex.

Photographer: Andrej Ivanov/AFP/Getty Images
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Smokers taking a course of cytisine are twice as likely to kick the habit, researchers found as the UK prepares to introduce the plant-based drug this month.

Scientists found that the treatment was twice as effective as a placebo — and marginally better than nicotine substitutes — in research published earlier this week in the medical journal Addiction.