Duke University Medical Centre researchers have come up with a novel technology that may give smokers a new way to kick the habit.
When compared to the nicotine vapour delivery system used in the Nicotrol/Nicorette inhaler, the new technology proved more effective at delivering nicotine to the blood stream. As a result, it provides immediate relief of withdrawal symptoms, according to university’s researchers. Users also reported the new nicotine delivery method was more tolerable than the current inhaler because it caused less throat irritation.
“We wanted to replicate the experience of smoking without incurring the dangers associated with cigarettes, and we wanted to do so more effectively than the nicotine replacement therapies currently on the market,” said Jed Rose, Ph.D., director of the Duke Centre for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research where the technology is being developed. He presented the data today at the Society for Nicotine and Tobacco Research (SRNT) in Baltimore, MD.
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The Nicotrol inhaler is a smoking cessation therapy that delivers nicotine vapor to the mouth and upper airways, but little of it reaches the lungs.
Duke’s new technology employs a unique method to deliver nicotine to the lungs. In presentation, the researchers show the new lung delivery technology results in rapid absorption of nicotine that provides immediate relief of withdrawal symptoms and also re-creates some of the familiar sensations that are pleasurable to smokers.