Tobacco.org

• Antidepressant patch doesn't help smokers quit  

An antidepressant drug delivered through a patch on the skin is no better than placebo for helping smokers kick the habit, new research shows.

Eldepryl (generic name selegiline) is used to treat Parkinson's disease, depression, and dementia, in both pill and patch form. Nicotine craving is a major hurdle for smokers trying to abstain, and selegiline can help maintain levels of brain chemicals like dopamine that are reduced in the absence of nicotine.

"That's why we hoped that selegiline might reduce the cravings and urges associated with quitting and thus help make it easier to quit," Dr. Joel D. Killen of Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California, one of the researchers who conducted the study, told Reuters Health.

Two previous studies using selegiline in pill form suggested the drug could reduce cravings in smokers trying to quit.

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