A key driver in the Government's aspirational Smokefree 2025 goal for New Zealand is better help for smokers wanting to quit. With that vision for the future in mind, University of Otago, Wellington (UOW) researchers are breaking new ground in the area of smoking cessation.
Professor Julian Crane, Director of the UOW Department of Medicine's Wellington Asthma Research Group (WARG) and senior research fellow Dr Brent Caldwell have developed a world-first nicotine inhaler that has the potential to help New Zealand achieve Smokefree 2025 – and cheaply.
The inhaler is based on the same design as puffer devices used to deliver medication to asthmatics, but instead delivers a short burst of nicotine to people who are trying to give up smoking.
Trials of the inhaler are delivering significant results, Caldwell says. ‚"People are using the inhaler appropriately and results show that they not only enjoy it, but it's also relieving their cravings.
"This is really encouraging. This is the first time in the world that a highly tolerable pulmonary nicotine inhaler has been trialled which can deliver similar levels of nicotine to that provided by cigarettes.
"Our preliminary experience suggests it will potentially be a huge improvement on current nicotine replacement therapies."
"Our preliminary experience suggests it will potentially be a huge improvement on current nicotine replacement therapies."
Inhaling nicotine is the fastest way to get nicotine to the brain, and it is essential for it to be as rewarding and satisfying as smoking, Caldwell says.
"Our study aims to test whether giving smokers an inhaler that provides a rapid ‘hit' of nicotine to the brain helps them to quit smoking when used in combination with nicotine patches."
Many smokers get frequent strong urges to smoke when they are trying to quit. What they need, says Crane, is an instant way to satisfy those urges.
"The quickest way to do this is to inhale nicotine. One of the problems with current nicotine replacement therapies is that they're relatively slow acting and not especially easy to use, and most smokers go back to cigarettes after a few months."
Crane adds that, until now, nicotine inhalers have either been too harsh to inhale, or the nicotine replacement therapy is absorbed too slowly via the mouth and throat instead of a rapid hit to the brain via the lungs.
The new nicotine inhaler is potentially a huge improvement on current therapies which include nicotine patches, gum and lozenges.
"We believe our inhaler will improve on current nicotine replacement because it provides that instant 'hit' of nicotine smokers need when they feel that desperate desire to light up."
Research shows that, although the vast majority of smokers would like to quit, 90 per cent fail because of the very strong addictive qualities of nicotine. Current therapies only help about 10 per cent of those who use them to quit. New Zealand smoking rates are still at 17 per cent of the adult population, a figure that needs to reduce dramatically to reach the 2025 goal of a smokefree New Zealand.
Funding
- Health Research Council