Mayo Clinic to Study a New Drug to Help People Stop Smoking

Tuesday, January 07, 2003

ROCHESTER, MINN. — Mayo Clinic seeks male and female volunteers over the age of 18 who smoke cigarettes and would like to quit. The purpose of this research study is to determine the effectiveness of a patch containing both nicotine and a drug called mecamylamine in helping people stop smoking. Mecamylamine is a nicotine antagonist, which may block the rewarding effect of nicotine and thus reduce the urge to smoke. Its use in combination with the nicotine patch may be more effective than the nicotine patch alone, which has been used for smoking cessation since 1992.

Smoking-related diseases claim an estimated 450,000 American lives each year, including those affected indirectly as a result of secondhand smoke. Smoking costs the United States approximately $150 billion each year in health-care costs and lost productivity. "It is important that we continue to develop new medications that will help people stop smoking," says Lowell Dale, M.D., of Mayo Clinic's Nicotine Dependence Center and lead researcher of the study. "We have worked with this medication in a previous study, and those results showed enough promise that we are participating in this larger study."

Participants will be randomized to receive one of four possible study medications: a combination of nicotine and mecamylamine patch, nicotine patch alone, mecamylamine patch alone, or placebo patch alone. Study medication will be taken for eight weeks with subsequent follow-up over the next year. All participants will receive behavioral interventions at each visit, including individual counseling sessions, written handouts, and discussion of a standard set of topics. Remuneration will be offered to those who participate in this research study.

For more information or to participate in the study, call 800-848-7853. Study visits can be completed at the Franciscan/Skemp Mayo Healthcare in LaCrosse, Wis. or Winona, Minn., the Albert Lea Medical Center, or the Nicotine Research Center in Rochester.

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Richard D. Hurt, Jr.
507-266-2166 (days)
507-284-2511 (evenings)
e-mail: newsbureau@mayo.edu

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