Tobacco.org

"I've come here to have my teeth treated, not to quit smoking!" (PDF) ($$) 

"I have come here to have my teeth treated, and not to quit smoking! said – by way of a goodbye – a 40-year-old policewoman who I had tried to convince that without quitting smoking she could not possibly count on an improvement in the very bad condition of her oral cavity, the treatment she had consulted me about" − recalls a dental surgeon from one of the cities in Silesia.

Her task usually begins at the point when general dentists decide there is nothing more they can do. It turns out that during many years of practice she observed that cigarettes are one of the main causes of complications in the treatment of diseases affecting the oral cavity, and that without giving up smoking one cannot count on the efficiency of the treatment. . . .

Few people know that oral cavity comes 6th on the list of organs most frequently affected by cancer. Changes can appear on the tongue, the buccal mucosa, the floor of the mouth, the lips and the throat. That's why a visit to the dentist is often the beginning of a complex treatment of an oncological patient. . . .

Oral cancer, periodontitis, teeth loss, bad breath, inefficient teeth whitening, failure concerning dental implants, alveolar bone loss, gingival recession – this is just an indicative list of conditions of the oral cavity that can be caused by smoking. It should suffice as motivation for both dentists and their patients to mutually support each other in their fight against smoking.

Maybe reading this article will deter addictive smokers from pursuing their habit.

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• Smoking Out the Smugglers  

The tobacco industry is regarded as highly controversial these days. What do you do to maintain a positive image on the market?

As part of its corporate social responsibility policy, Imperial Tobacco Polska has been carrying out a number of campaigns and projects designed to benefit our employees, local communities and the environment and we also commit ourselves to measures aimed at combating crime on the market for tobacco products. For example, we have for years held professional training courses for customs officers and police officers from economic crime departments across Poland. During the sessions, the officers study the latest data on the volume of tobacco products smuggled into Poland and where these come from, and they also learn the best ways to tell the difference between legal and illegal goods. We work with Customs and Police services to help them fight smuggling, which also includes tracking down illegal cigarette factories. We have conducted a campaign called “Stop Fakes” twice. The first time around, the campaign drew the attention of the public and decision makers to illegal, counterfeit cigarettes. The other campaign dealt with forged and illegally marketed loose tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes.

We always stress that illegal trade in cigarettes and other tobacco products jeopardizes legally operating enterprises and people who work there as well as causes losses to the state budget.

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Tobacco tax to help stabilize debt-to-GDP ratio  

-Poland's government has amended its 2012 budget proposal to include higher excise duties on tobacco and diesel fuel, according to a Dow Jones International News story.

The government is striving to keep the country's debt-to-GDP ratio below 55 per cent.

Under the latest proposal, the tax on tobacco products would rise by four per cent next year

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Poland to hike fuel, tobacco tax to boost 2012 budget  

Poland plans to raise an additional 2.45 billion zlotys ($741 million) next year from higher excise tax on fuels and tobacco, according to a bill submitted by the government on Tuesday.

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Two Polish diplomats fired over attempted cigarette smuggling  

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has fired two employees of the Polish embassy in Moscow after they tried to smuggle cigarettes worth $16,000 to Poland, the country's Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

The diplomats were detained in Terespol at the border with Belarus, Marcin Bosacki said, adding that some 100,000 cigarettes were seized from the detainees. He did not elaborate on the date of the detention.

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BENJI: Want to Quit Smoking? Try Tabex: An Editorial  

While cytisine has not been shown to be more effective than varenicline, it does have other benefits. It has fewer and milder side effects and is much less costly. The authors of the study suggest that a longer period of abstinence may occur if the treatment was combined with intensive counseling.

Cytisine is sold online without a prescription. One hundred tablets (1.5 mg ) cost about $25.

In my experience, while buying drugs online may be cheaper, buying online from European dealers is another story. Both the FDA and DEA frown upon Americans ordering drugs online. Plus, giving a credit card online to an unknown European pharmacy has its own hassles.

Until this product is legally available in America, I suggest that consumers wanting to quit smoking stick to products available in America or go Cold Turkey.

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Cytisine Shown Effective for Smoking Cessation 

The compound cytisine, an extract of acacia seeds that has been used in Eastern Europe for more than 40 years as an aid to smoking cessation, was found effective in the first placebo-controlled randomized trial of the agent that meets modern regulatory standards, according to a report in the Sept. 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Cytisine is a partial agonist that binds with high affinity to a subtype of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, which is also the primary target of the smoking-cessation drug varenicline. It has been available across Eastern Europe under the brand name Tabex since 1964, said Robert West, Ph.D., of the Cancer Research U.K. Health Behavior Research Centre, department of epidemiology and public health, University College London, and his associates.

© milosluz/istockphoto.com

Cytisine, which has been used to help cease smoking in Eastern Europe for more than 40 years, was finally proven effective in a modern randomized trial.

Because of its "unusual history of development," no preclinical studies, dosing studies, or large comparative trials have been reported to date. "We conducted a study to assess cytisine's efficacy and safety in a context that could be replicated globally, with a relatively short treatment course (25 days) and minimal contact with health professionals," they noted.

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Cheap Drug Helps a Few Smokers Kick the Habit  

An inexpensive stop-smoking drug popular in Eastern Europe was significantly more effective than placebo in a randomized trial, but not by very much, researchers said.

In a 740-person trial conducted in Poland, 8.4% of those assigned to cytisine (Tabex), a partial agonist at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, remained abstinent through the one-year follow-up period compared with 2.4% of the placebo group (P=0.001), reported Robert West, PhD, of University College London in England, and colleagues.

It did not help much to define abstinence more loosely as not having smoked during the final week of follow-up, according to their report in the Sept. 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Action Points

* Explain that an inexpensive stop-smoking drug (cytisine [Tabex]) popular in Eastern Europe was significantly more effective than placebo in a randomized trial, but not by very much.

* Note that even when abstinence was defined more loosely as not having smoked during the final week of follow-up, success was achieved by 13.2% with cytisine versus 7.3% with placebo.

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Smokers Quit With Cheap Remedy Used in Bulgaria for 40 Years  

For as little as $6, there may be a smoking-cessation remedy that actually works.

A clinical test of Tabex, sold in eastern Europe for more than four decades, shows that the plant-based medicine can triple smokers’ chances of quitting compared with a dummy pill. The results of a study on 740 people were published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The tablet, developed and sold by Bulgaria’s Sopharma AD, may help smokers with limited means quit, scientists said. Most of the 6 million people who die from tobacco use each year are from low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization. Sopharma Chief Executive Officer Ognian Donev and Rick Stewart, former CEO of Amarin Corp., have formed a company called Extab Corp. that’s trying to raise $20 million to fund more tests and find a marketing partner.

“Big Pharma are clearly aware of Tabex but I think they will be pleasantly surprised by the quality of these results,” Stewart said in a telephone interview. Extab aims to conduct at least one more clinical trial and expects to be able to seek regulatory approval at the end of 2013, according to Stewart.

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Banned: The 12p 'cure' for smokers not to be made available in Britain 

A drug found to triple a smoker's chances of quitting will not be officially available in Britain for another three years - even though it can be bought now for 12p a pill online.

Nicotine substitute Tabex cannot be prescribed here although it has helped millions of people in eastern Europe during the past four decades.

The plant-based treatment has no known harmful side-effect and could save the NHS millions of pounds a year, it is claimed.

But it will not be cleared for up to three years because of what experts claim are 'Alice in Wonderland' drug regulations.

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Smoking cessation drug Tabex performs in trial  

An anti-smoking drug called Tabex may “boost a person’s chances of ditching cigarettes three-fold,” The Sun has today reported.

The smoking cessation drug, also known as cytisine, has been available in some Eastern European and former Soviet countries, such as Russia, for more than 40 years. However, the researchers of this study said that the drug has not previously been tested in a way that would meet modern regulatory standards, which all drugs must satisfy before they can be marketed in the UK. To test the effectiveness of the drug the researchers performed a study using 740 volunteers who were either given the drug or a dummy (placebo) drug for 25 days. They found that 12 months after treatment, 8.4% of participants taking cytisine had successfully quit, compared to 2.4% of participants taking placebo. This equated to an extra 6% of people giving up smoking, a performance comparable to existing approved treatments.

As well as producing promising results, the drug is reported to be inexpensive, which singles it out as a potential future treatment within the UK. However, given that the trial was relatively small and short it is likely that more research will be needed to confirm its effectiveness and safety before regulators can approve its use.

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Smokers get chance to beat the habit with 12p tablets  

Fed up of using nicotine gum, patches or lozenges, or relying on walks, food treats or sheer willpower to beat your cigarette addiction? Pills bought online costing 12p each may just be your salvation.

The tablets in question, called Tabex, more than triple a smoker's chances of giving up, according to new research which is expected to lead to a rush of internet orders from Britons hooked on nicotine.

Their success is down to the active ingredient cytisine, which is derived from laburnum seeds. Its capacity to satisfy smokers' cravings was first discovered when Russian and German troops smoked laburnum leaves for that exact purpose during the Second World War.

Experts expect Tabex to prove as effective as existing aids to help people ditch their habit and could ultimately save the NHS tens of millions of pounds because they are so cheap.

A British-led research study investigated the drug's effectiveness. . . .

"It's been available in central and eastern Europe for more than 40 years, we have safety data on millions of people, and we know it's effective, but it's not licensed in Britain," said West, from the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre at University College London.

"People can make their own choices. A licence is not a licence to buy, it's a licence to market. There's nothing illegal about buying this drug online, but there's always the risk that you might not get what you want," said West. He and his colleagues were "extremely encouraged" by the results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, he said.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "This drug sounds promising, especially as a lower cost alternative to help smokers to quit in developing countries. We will look at whether the medicine has prospects for use in the UK."

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Old anti-smoking drug passes new test  

Cytisine, an extract from the seeds of the Golden Rain acacia that was first marketed in Bulgaria in 1964, can give smokers an inexpensive assist in kicking the habit, according to the first large modern study of the drug.

In the test on 740 volunteers, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 8.4 percent of those who were given cytisine for 25 days stayed off cigarettes for one year, compared with 2.4 percent in the placebo group.

That success rate is comparable to treatment with nicotine patches and other anti-smoking drugs like varenicline (Chantix) and bupropion (Zyban), chief author Robert West of the University College London told Reuters Health. . . .

"This is off-patent. In theory, anyone can grow this stuff. The pills can be made for practically nothing," West said.

The drug is not approved in the United States, Japan or Western Europe.

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Cytisine Is Cheap And Effective In Helping Smokers Quit 

Tabex, a low cost medication which contains Cytisine, a nicotine substitute derived from laburnum seeds, triples a person's chances of successfully giving up smoking, compared to a placebo, researchers reported in NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine).

Tabex has been available in parts of Eastern Europe for over four decades. However, there was not enough evidence demonstrating the medication's efficacy in smoking cessation.

A trial carried out by researchers from University College London, the Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, Poland, and the University of Birmingham, England, found that Tabex is not only much cheaper than other smoking cessation products, it also appears to be effective.

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Soviet-Era Pill From Bulgaria is a Cheap Way to Help Smokers Quit 

A Soviet-era smoking-cessation remedy from Bulgaria may be the best and cheapest method to get cigarette smokers to quit.

The drug, cytisine, has been used in Eastern Europe for more than 40 years. The medication, which is sold under the brand-name Tabex by the Bulgaria-based Sopharma AD, is derived from laburnum seeds, which contain a natural nicotine substitute. Dr. Robert West, a professor at the University College London whom led a recent study on cytisine, told The Associated Press that it was discovered by the Soviet Union when it expanded its drug research to Bulgaria. Russian soldiers referred to it as "fake tobacco."

Researchers believe cytisine may be the key to helping millions of smokers in developing countries -- where the World Health Organization reports most of the six million people who die from tobacco each year are located -- although it is unclear as to whether it will ever hit the market in the U.S. and Western Europe. . . .

Patients are typically weaned off cytisine, starting with six pills a day and cutting down to two by the end of the treatment. So far, there have been no serious side effects recorded in the more than seven million people who have taken the drug over the past 40 years.

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