Distribution of Bupropion and Varenicline to Increase Smoking Cessation Attempts

January 23, 2018 updated by: Dr. Peter Selby, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

An Innovative Approach to Maximizing the Impact of Efficacious Pharmacotherapies on Smoking Cessation Attempts.

Bupropion and varenicline are indicated for smoking cessation. The objectives of this study are two-fold: (1) to explore the logistic feasibility of distributing bupropion and varenicline free of charge to treatment-seeking smokers in the province of Ontario, Canada and (2) to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of bupropion and varenicline treatment in Ontario compared to a no-drug comparison group. In an open label study, Ontario smokers who smoke 10 or more cigarettes per day and intend to quit smoking in the next 30 days, will enroll via the study website, visit their physician to receive a prescription for bupropion or varenicline for 12 weeks or neither if they so choose, forming the no-drug comparison group. All participants will receive weekly motivational emails for 12 weeks. Abstinence measures will be taken at 4, 8 and 12 weeks and at 6 and 12 months. The proportion of eligible participants who were able to confirm an appointment with a physician to receive the prescription will be also measured.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Bupropion and varenicline are effective pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation, but their population level impact is limited by a combination of factors. Both bupropion and varenicline are only available through prescription, however smoking cessation clinics are few in number and only about 25% of smokers receive information on smoking cessation aids from their healthcare provider. Mass distribution approaches, bypassing clinics and physicians, have been successful for nicotine replacement therapy in many jurisdictions, including Ontario. However, bupropion and varenicline have the potential to make a greater impact given their superior results from the clinical trials. Bupropion and varenicline present a unique challenge as they are prescribed medications, therefore we have proposed a variant of the mass distribution method to test whether it is practical to distribute them to a large number of people over a expansive geographic area (i.e., Ontario).

We hypothesize that engaging smokers with the opportunity to receive free bupropion or varenicline, to initiate an appointment with their physician to obtain a prescription that would be filled and mailed to the smoker from a central pharmacy would be a logistically feasible approach to reach high number of smokers from a wide geographic area. Our second hypothesis is that consistent with the results from clinical studies, in the general population varenicline would be associated with a higher abstinence rate than bupropion, and both varenicline and bupropion groups would achieve higher abstinence rates than those making quit attempts without any pharmacotherapy aid.

This is an open label, proof-of-concept study, wherein 2000 eligible participants will have the opportunity to receive bupropion (Zyban®) or varenicline (Champix®) for 12 weeks in conjunction with weekly motivational emails. Eligible participants will discuss with their doctor which of the two medications is appropriate for them to use as smoking cessation aid. It is also possible that the participant and his/her doctor may decide not to pursue smoking cessation using either of these medications. These participants will form a third intervention group, receiving only the weekly motivational emails. All participants will set a quit date of their choosing, but those receiving medication will set a quit date 7 days after starting the medication. The participants will enroll in the study via the study's website, at which time they will read the consent form, answer the eligibility questions and complete the baseline questionnaire. Data related to the outcome measures and adverse events will be collected at 4, 8 and 12 weeks after the start of treatment and at 6 and 12 months after the end of treatment.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
893

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5T 1P7
        • Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • male or female, at least 18 years of age, resident of Ontario, smoke at least 10 cigarettes per day, had smoked daily for at least the past 3 months, had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and intended to quit smoking in the next 30 days.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • history of brain injury or seizure(s); pregnancy, lactation or risk of becoming pregnant; allergy or sensitivity to bupropion or varenicline; current use of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), thioridazine, varenicline or buproprion; severe liver impairment; or history of anorexia and /or bulimina.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Active Comparator: Bupropion + motivational emails
participants receive Zyban (300mg/day) plus weekly motivational emails for 12 weeks.
Drug: bupropion
bupropion, 150 mg twice daily plus weekly motivational emails for 12 weeks
Other Names:
  • Zyban
Behavioral: motivational emails
brief motivational emails, sent weekly for 12 weeks
Active Comparator: Varenicline + motivational emails
participants receive Champix (2mg/day) plus weekly motivational emails for 12 weeks.
Behavioral: motivational emails
brief motivational emails, sent weekly for 12 weeks
Drug: varenicline
varenicline, 1 mg twice daily plus weekly motivational emails for 12 weeks
Other Names:
  • Champix
Active Comparator: Motivational emails
participants receive weekly motivational emails for 12 weeks.
Behavioral: motivational emails
brief motivational emails, sent weekly for 12 weeks

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
7-day Point Prevalence of Abstinence
Time Frame: 6-month
7-day point prevalence of abstinence was assessed by the question "Have you had a cigarette, even a puff, in the past 7 days?"
6-month
Proportion of Eligible Participants Who Were Able to Attend an Appointment With a Physician
Time Frame: End of Treatment
Proportion of eligible participants who were able to attend an appointment with a physician to have the prescription signed
End of Treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
April 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
November 30, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
December 1, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
December 2, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
January 24, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 23, 2018

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
January 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 068/2009

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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