Efficacy and safety of bupropion SR for smoking cessation: Data from clinical trials and five years of postmarketing experience

Bupropion SR was introduced for smoking cessation in the US in 1997. This review assesses the efficacy and safety of bupropion SR for treatment of tobacco dependence based on data from clinical trials and five years of postmarketing experience. Through June 2001, there were approximately 32 million patient exposures to bupropion (9 million for smoking cessation) in clinical practice, and more than 8000 patients have been studied in clinical trials for tobacco dependence. In clinical trials, bupropion SR was more effective than placebo at improving initial and long-term abstinence rates and preventing relapse. Bupropion SR is generally well tolerated. The most common adverse event in clinical trials or clinical practice is insomnia, which can also be a symptom of nicotine withdrawal. The two main risks of treatment with bupropion SR are major motor seizure and hypersensitivity reaction. Clinical trials data suggest that the incidence of seizure is approximately 0.1%, and that of serious cases of hypersensitivity approximately 0.12%. Benefit-risk assessment, assuming a 30% one-year quit rate demonstrates that for every 10,000 smokers treated with bupropion SR, 19 lives are saved and 86 cases of smoking-attributed morbidity are averted in a five-year period while the risk of experiencing one of the two potentially serious adverse events during treatment is 0.22%. These data further establish both the efficacy and safety of bupropion SIR and its use in preventing the adverse health effects of chronic tobacco use.