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A colleague informed him about a company in Bulgaria named Sopharma that made a stop-smoking drug called Tabex. The pills contained cytisine, a natural compound discovered in the tree's seeds. The drug was farmed from massive laburnum orchards in Bulgaria. Cytisine targeted brain receptors to obstruct nicotine cravings. Its power had been acknowledged considering that at least the 1940s, when Russian soldiers in The second world war, brief on tobacco, supposedly turned to smoking the tree's leaves.
Sopharma began making the Tabex-branded cytisine pills in 1964, however they were available only in Central and Eastern Europe. Stewart had never ever heard of the drug. But he was intrigued. He was likewise cautious. Nearly 1 billion individuals smoke worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Tobacco is blamed for 5 million deaths a year.

He questioned how others could have missed this chance. There are only 3 treatment alternatives for U.S. cigarette smokers wanting to quit. Chantix is the most recent, debuting on the market in 2006. At the time, it was the very first prescription drug approved for smoking cigarettes cessation by the U.S. Fda in almost a years, since Glaxo, Smith, Kline's antidepressant Zyban.
But that's it. The pledge of treatments such as nicotine vaccines or other drugs had actually flamed out. Absolutely nothing new has actually boiled down the pike. In 2008, Chantix (offered as Champix overseas) posted $846 million in worldwide sales. However that hit number dropped 17 percent the next year when the FDA slapped a "black box" cautioning on Chantix and Zyban since of the risk of suicidal habits and other mental-health problems.
Chantix's credibility is still suffering. Last year, it recorded $647 million in sales. The danger of severe negative effects alarmed Stewart. Cytisine and Chantix work in similar methods. In fact, Pfizer chemists closely studied the plant product as they established their miracle drug. But Pfizer supercharged its derivative to increase efficacy.


" Why aren't we seeing the suicidality?" he recalls believing. One study suggested it was because cytisine is less powerful. And numerous scientists today believe the worst side effects associated to Chantix such as self-destructive thoughts are unrelated to the drug. (A Pfizer research study to be launched later on this year is expected by many to support this concept.) However plain differences in between the two drugs are found in other severe responses, consisting of unusual dreams, insomnia and queasiness.