Researchers End Nicotine Patch Study
A UCLA study testing the effectiveness of stick-on patches containing nicotine as treatment to stop smoking has been unexpectedly cut short because of skin reactions reported in some of the subjects.
Carol Hickman, one of the study’s researchers, said the shutdown was ordered by Ciba-Geigy Corp., which was sponsoring the test to determine whether nicotine absorbed through the skin could help wean smokers from tobacco.
Jed Rose, another researcher, said the testing involved 130 people, divided into two groups--one that had been using a patch containing nicotine and the other a patch with a placebo.
Skin Irritation
Hickman said some of the subjects reported skin irritation beginning three weeks into the scheduled 13-week study. She said the problem prompted Ciba-Geigy to abort the study a month early.
“We didn’t expect any skin irritation,” she said. But, she said, “I think it’s definitely a solvable problem and the product is excellent.”
In research articles published in the last four years, researchers led by UCLA’s Dr. Murray Jarvik have theorized that nicotine absorbed through the skin might help smokers quit by preventing the craving for cigarettes.
Jarvik, Rose and other experts reported in a 1985 article in the journal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics that the nicotine patch might avoid the side effects of nicotine gum such as nausea, heartburn and hiccups.
Dr. Neal Benowitz, a UC San Francisco tobacco addiction expert, said nicotine has long been known to sometimes cause minor irritation and even severe reactions when it comes in contact with the skin.
Benowitz said it was difficult to determine whether the termination of the UCLA study meant the use of nicotine in smoking treatment would have difficulty gaining marketing clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Ciba-Geigy, headquartered in Summit, N.J., declined to comment.
Potentially Effective
Dr. John Hughes, a University of Vermont smoking researcher, said it is believed that several drug companies are working on nicotine patches for smoking treatment. He said the method may be more effective than nicotine chewing gum or nicotine pills. In pill form, most of the effect of nicotine is dissipated in the liver and never gets into the bloodstream, Hughes said.
Rose said other studies at UCLA are evaluating inhalable mists that use citric acid to irritate the throat--much in the way smoke does--and a mist that smells like tobacco. Both techniques, Rose said, might be used in conjunction with nicotine patches to wean smokers from their habits.
