An uncontrolled trial of cytisine (Tabex) for smoking cessation: Table 1

Abstract

Objectives:Cytisine (Tabex) has been licensed in Eastern Europe as an aid to smoking cessation for 40 years. Cytisine is a partial agonist with high affinity binding to the α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor believed to be central to the rewarding effect of nicotine. There is insufficient information on effectiveness to warrant licensing by modern standards. To assess whether full-scale controlled trials are warranted, this study sought to obtain an estimate of the 12-month continuous abstinence rates of smokers using cytisine with minimal behavioural support.Design:An uncontrolled, open-label trial.Setting:A smokers’ clinic in an oncology centre in Warsaw, Poland.Subjects:436 consecutive attendees of the smokers’ clinic of whom 191 were male. The mean dependence score (Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence) was 6.1.Intervention:The standard regimen of Tabex (cytisine) was used, involving 25 days of treatment with minimal behavioural support.Main outcome measure:Self-reported continuous abstinence for 12 months; with abstinence verified by carbon monoxide at the final follow up (after 12 months).Results:60 participants (13.8% of the total sample) were abstinent for 12 months. Of the 315 subjects, who had taken the drug, 49 (15.5%) stopped cytisine because of adverse effects (mostly gastric disturbances and nausea), although they were not serious. The frequency of the minor adverse effects, primarily gastric disturbance, was similar to that observed in previous studies with the drug.Conclusions:The long-term abstinence rates were similar to those observed in smokers receiving nicotine replacement therapy. Full-scale randomised trials of cytisine (Tabex), conducted to the standards required by regulatory authorities, are warranted.

Nicotinic Receptor Antagonists as Treatments for Nicotine Abuse

“…Cytisine is a natural product isolated from Cytisus laborinum that is marketed in Europe as a smoking cessation agent under the trade name Tabex ® (Etter, 2006; Zatonski, Cedzynska, Tutka, & West, 2006). Varenicline is a synthetic analog of cytisine.…”

Development and validation of the HPLC method for varenicline determination in pharmaceutical preparation

“…Cytisine, like varenicline, is structurally similar to nicotine and acts as a partial agonist of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) as it has a high affinity for the alpha4beta2 receptor subtype. With regard to cytisine, the long-term abstinence rates were similar to those observed in smokers receiving nicotine replacement therapy [5]. Varenicline; 6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-6,10-methano-6H-pyrazino(2,3-h)benzazepine (VAR, Figure 1) is a relatively novel agent that is a centrally acting as a highly selective partial agonist of the mentioned alpha4beta2 nAChR subtype.…”

Accessibility of nicotine dependence therapy

“…Many authors have confirmed the efficacy of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT)-nicotine and cytisine, and with bupropion (Silagy et al 1994(Silagy et al , 2005Silagy and Formica 2001;Novotny et al 2000;Tonstad et al 2003;Etter 2006;Zatonski et al 2005Zatonski et al , 2006. The well-timed treatment of the dependence is of great importance for smoking restriction.…”