Getting your player ready...
LONDON — A pill developed in Bulgaria during the Soviet era shows promise for helping millions of smokers cheaply and safely kick the habit, the first big study of it shows.
The drug, cytisine, is derived from laburnum seeds, which contain a natural nicotine substitute. New research suggests the drug can triple smokers’ chances of being off cigarettes after one year compared with those taking a dummy pill.
It has been sold in Eastern Europe for about 40 years, but some experts are unsure it will ever make it to Western markets without larger trials.
The study was published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.
