Study examines Zyban's use in smoking cessation, weight loss

Drug Store News, Oct 22, 2001

A Mayo Clinic study suggests prescription drug Zyban (wellbutrin) may help keep ex-smokers off cigarettes and help them maintain or even lose weight. More than half of the 800 smokers studied stopped smoking after seven weeks on the drug. Half of that group continued taking the drug for a year. At the end of the year, 55 percent of the Zyban group was still smoke-free. Two years later, however, similar numbers of the Zyban and non-Zyban groups had relapsed. Women in both groups gained some weight, but those on Zyban gained less up to two years later.

Zyban maker GlaxoSmithKline funded the study. GSK recently distributed important safety information about Zyban in response to the Canadian Health Department's belief that the drug is linked to 19 deaths in the country. The supplemental information indicates that the drug can cause nausea, headache, seizures and high blood pressure.