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Role Funding: pijf-0032
A substance found in kōwhai could be the answer for many smokers wanting to give up.
Chris Bullen, from the National Institute for Health Innovation, says kōwhai has a high concentration of the natural insecticide cytisine.
Cytisine extracted from related plants has been used in smoking cessation products in eastern Europe for decades.
Researchers here are assessing its impact in preparation for getting it approved by regulators.
“It’s readily available, it’s been through all the hoops and regulations for studying purposes in New Zealand. We’re hoping to get it here as a commercially-available product one day but at the moment we’ve got it in for the purposes of trialling its potential here,” Professor Bullen says.
The National Institute for Health Innovation is inviting smokers who want to make a healthy change to sign up for a two-year study that will test cytisine, which it has called Cessation,