Panel Advises Approval of Anti-Smoking Inhaler

BETHESDA, Md. — Smokers who want to quit but crave nicotine and miss fidgeting with cigarettes may get a new source of help--a smokeless nicotine inhaler they can puff on any time.

A federal advisory committee recommended approval of the Nicotrol inhaler Friday as the fourth alternative source of nicotine for people trying to give up smoking. The current options are nicotine patches, chewing gum or nasal spray.

The inhaler, which looks something like a fat, plastic cigarette, is puffed on like a cigarette and gives the individual something to fidget with during the day. The big difference: You don’t light it and there is no smoke.

People using patches and other devices “often complain they miss their cigarettes . . . the handling and puffing behavior. They say it’s been a friend to them,” said Dr. Karl Olov Fagerstrom of Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc., manufacturer of the device.

“This is an interesting, innovative way to quit smoking,” said former Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan. He endorsed the inhaler as a new tool in ending the “preventable carnage and economic waste” caused by smoking-related illnesses.

If it receives final Food and Drug Administration approval, the inhaler would be sold by prescription, with marketing to be handled by McNeil Consumer Products.

The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of the advisory committee but generally does. FDA scientists, who had reviewed studies done by the company, recommended approval. It was unclear how soon a final decision might come.

Dr. Curtis Wright of the FDA said that initially the agency was uncomfortable with endorsing a product that looks like a cigarette. But successful tests won over the advisory board.

The company’s Dr. Mikael Frazon said 44% of those using the inhaler in tests were able to stop smoking. Other researchers have estimated that 10% of people who try to stop smoking each year succeed.