Smokers who want to quit are more than twice as likely to succeed if they take a pill which dampens nicotine cravings, according to doctors, who said that the medicine could play a main role to help individuals to avoid that habit.
Stopping smoking remains one of the most common new year resolutions, but it consistently ranks as one of the hardest to keep, mainly because of the highly addictive nature of nicotine.
While many smokers now turn to products that provide nicotine more safely than tobacco, such as vapes, patches and gums, doctors looked at the indication for a medicine called cytisine, a natural ingredient of laburnum seeds, to help smokers to break their addiction.
For decades, the medicine has been used in central and eastern Europe but it is unavailable in most countries, the US included. Recently the drug gained regulatory approval in the UK where the pills will be made available later this month.
Scientists in Argentina analyzed 12 randomized controlled trials which compared the success rates of smokers who tried to quit while taking cytisine, a placebo, another smoking cessation drug called varenicline (Champix) or nicotine replacement therapies such as patches and gum.
Cytisine pills were more than twice as effective as the placebo at helping people quit smoking, the researchers found, while many trials in the review suggested that the drug was similar to varenicline and possibly more effective than nicotine replacement therapy. These Details are published in the journal Addiction.

Our study adds to the evidence that cytisine is an effective and inexpensive stop-smoking aid, says Omar de Santi, a toxicologist at the Posadas National hospital in Argentina. Worldwide, smoking is considered the main cause of preventable death. Cytisine has the potential to be one of the big answers to that problem.
In UK, over the past 50 years smoking has declined dramatically and it is still the leading cause of preventable illness and death. An estimated 100,000 individuals each year die due to smoking in the UK, more than the next five largest causes combined, according to the Royal Society for Public Health.
In September, the latest discoveries follow a major study led by Oxford University which concluded that e-cigarettes, cytisine and varenicline were similarly effective in helping about 14 smokers in 100 quit for at least six months. Only about six smokers per 100 quit for as long without using any of the stop-smoking aids.
By the end of January, Cytisine pills are due to be available in the UK as a prescription-only medicine. But the cost, at £115 for a 25-day course of 100 tablets, may discourage some places from providing the medicine as part of their health services.
It is better to have a non-nicotine aid to quit back on the market as some smokers will prefer this, said Hazel Cheeseman at Action on Smoking and Health (Ash). However, the decision about whether to include it in stop-smoking services will be local.
While it is obviously cost effective given the impact on public services of people continuing to smoke, it is presently more expensive than providing nicotine replacement therapy or vapes and some areas may decide not to offer it to smokers.
Smokers who are unable to access this medication straight away should be reassured that using nicotine alternatives is a safe and effective way to quit smoking.
Robert West, a professor of health psychology and director of tobacco studies at the Cancer Research UK Health Behavior Research Centre at UCL, said it was an excellent news for smoker, that cytisine was finally being approved for sale in the UK.
It looks like becoming our most important stop-smoking medicine with similar effectiveness to Champix, but which is currently not available and e-cigarettes which tend to maintain dependence on nicotine, he said. The cost shouldn’t be a deterrent, but in any case, it should extremely come down as the market develops and the supplier recoups its outlay in getting marketing approval.
