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Excerpts from: Upping Nicotine Levels May Help Smokers Quit

By Andrew Holtz, Reuters [08/08/00]

CHICAGO (Reuters Health) - Boosting nicotine levels in smokers may actually help them reduce their smoking, perhaps even
easing the path to smoking cessation, according to research presented Monday at the 11th World Conference on Tobacco OR
Health in Chicago.

Dr. Rachel Tyndale, associate professor at the University of Toronto's Center for Addictions and Mental Health in Canada,
said genetic clues led her team to experiment with a new approach to nicotine replacement compound. In a short-term study,
the new compound reduced smoking by 50% compared with (an inactive) placebo.

The key to success is an enzyme inhibitor that slows the inactivation of nicotine in the liver. Until now, nicotine pill development
has been stymied by the fact that the liver metabolizes 70% of ingested nicotine before it can reach the brain.

Their genetic work on the CYP2A6 enzyme, which is involved in nicotine metabolism, inspired Tyndale's team to study the new
nicotine and enzyme inhibitor combination.

The enzyme inhibitor was combined with 4 milligrams of nicotine into a pill given to current smokers. ``And what we found in
that study was a 50% decrease in smoking compared to the placebo-placebo arm,'' Tyndale told Reuters Health.

The researchers used blood carbon monoxide levels to monitor smoking behavior. Their results appear to be somewhat better
than those of similar trials of nicotine gum, she noted. ``We think that's because we're not only getting the nicotine into the
system, but now we're actually keeping the nicotine in the system because the inhibitor keeps it there for considerably longer,''
Tyndale explained.

The reduction in smoking involved a combination of fewer cigarettes as well as shallower and fewer puffs per cigarette; thus
smokers satisfied their craving for nicotine, while reducing their exposure to harmful components of tobacco smoke.