According to Professor Elvis Irusen of Stellenbosch University who was speaking at a press conference in Gaborone yesterday, the drug - Zyban - has been studied for over a decade and is the first of its kind to help smokers to quit. “There have never been any medication to help smokers quit,” he said.
He explained that Zyban works on the brain, by altering chemicals in the brain and making smokers not to feel the urge for a cigarette while blocking the need for nicotine.
Irusen said that the drug, which is in tablet form, is taken once a day for two months and only through prescriptions from the doctor. Missing doses does not have a negative effect but he advised that it was important not to overdose. He said that support from the family was important while taking the drug and that it had negligible side effects.
The drug costs P165 a month at manufacturing prices and could possibly go up to P300 at retail prices. Medical Aid currently does not cover it. He said the medication is bound to save costs in the long term. The drug has been available in South Africa for a year and has also been used in other countries such as United States and Canada.
Smoking is said to cause a wide range of diseases, including many types of cancers, coronary heart disease, stroke and peptic ulcers. According to a press statement from GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceuticals, smokers cause large societal and economic costs, in the use of healthcare resources, absence from work, loss of productivity and harmful effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on non-smokers. The statement says that smoking tobacco in any form releases over 4 000 chemicals mainly the sludge-like tar particles, nicotine and carbon monoxide suspended in the smoke.
