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CENTURY
Yale University
School of Medicine
SAC-203
Connecticut
Mental Health Center
34 Park Street
New Haven, CT 06519

Phone:
203-974-7591

Fax:
203-974-7606

E-mail:
infocentury@yale.edu

CENTURY/TTURC Press Release

New Haven, Conn. - Do you have plans to quit smoking for the New Year? Two new studies by the Center for Nicotine and Tobacco Use Research at Yale might help you do that.

One study is examining the novel use of an existing drug as a possible treatment for smoking. The other is looking into why certain smokers find it hard to quit. Both studies are seeking participants who want to quit smoking. Both will provide smokers with strategies to help them quit smoking.

The first study, led by Stephanie O'Malley, professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, will investigate whether the drug naltrexone, used in combination with the nicotine patch, can help people quit smoking. In addition, the study will look at the effects of naltrexone on the craving for cigarettes, weight gain following quitting, and alcohol consumption.

Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, is the lead investigator on the other study, which will try to determine the best treatment for smokers who have a particularly hard time quitting, such as women, drinkers and people who are depressed. Krishnan-Sarin said research shows that these are the subgroups that often relapse. Participants in this study will join a one-month intensive smoking cessation program that will teach them how to quit, and prevent relapse. It also will reward abstinence from smoking with increasing amounts of money. This program will not use any drugs to assist smoking cessation.

The two studies are part of a five-year $10 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant has been used to create CENTURY and the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at Yale (TTURC).

Both projects will be supported by an interdisciplinary effort involving investigators with a broad range of expertise.

People who are interested in participating in the naltrexone study, which is being conducted at the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit in New Haven and the Newington VA, should contact Michelle at Yale, 203-974-7588, or Amy or Jay at the Newington VA, 860-667-6828.

People who are interested in participating in the counseling study should contact Michelle at Yale, 203-974-7588.