From: gts (gts_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Feb 20 2003 - 11:26:51 MST
And let's not forget the potentional of this drug for treating
addictions.
NEWS:
Parkinson's Drug May Help Smokers Quit
Fri Jan 24, 5:37 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A drug used to treat Parkinson's disease
may help some people quit smoking, the results of a small, preliminary
study suggest.
The drug, selegiline, acts by delaying the breakdown of dopamine, the
chemical that progressively diminishes in parts of the brain as
Parkinson's disease advances.
"There is increasing evidence for a role of dopamine systems in the
neurobiology of nicotine dependence," Dr. Tony P. George and colleagues
write in the January issue of the journal Biological Psychology.
In the study, George's team evaluated the number of patients who quit
smoking while taking selegiline and assessed any adverse side effects of
the drug.
For eight weeks, 20 patients took selegiline and 20 took an inactive
placebo. At the end of the eight-week period, 9 of the 20, or 45%, who
took selegiline had quit smoking. Six months later, four people were
cigarette-free, the study indicates.
By comparison, only 15% of those taking a placebo had stopped smoking by
the end of eight weeks. Only one person was cigarette-free at six
months, the authors report.
Among those taking selegiline, side effects were "generally mild" and
included loss of appetite, gastrointestinal symptoms and insomnia, the
authors report.
Given the very small number of people in the study, the authors
recommend that further studies be conducted to see if selegiline can
indeed help people quit smoking.
"While there are several effective treatments for smoking cessation,
including nicotine replacement therapies and bupropion (Zyban), there
are many smokers who do not respond to these drugs," said George, who is
with the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut,
in a prepared statement.
"So developing new drugs for smoking cessation is an important
undertaking. Selegiline (Deprenyl) appears to be a drug that might have
promise for treatment of nicotine addiction," George concluded.
The study was funded by grants from the National Institute on Drug
Abuse, the National Cancer Institute (news - web sites) and the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation.
SOURCE: Biological Psychiatry 2003:53:136-143.
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