$400 Stop-Smoking 'Cure' Questioned

Welplex, Inc., claims its $400 stop-smoking regimen "encompasses the best that medical science has to offer for the treatment of nicotine addiction," but skeptics have raised a number of questions about the intervention and the company's marketing, the St. Petersburg Times reported Sept. 9.

The intervention combines a two-week course of treatment with anticholinergic drugs and a pamphlet on behavior modification. Company marketing materials say that more than half of patents abstain from smoking a year after completing the program.

Welplex states that the drugs are patented and FDA approved, but critics point out that anticholinergics are not approved for treatment of addiction. Welplex's efficacy and safety claims also has been challenged.

The company says it plans to conduct a double-blind study of its intervention, but probably won't seek FDA approval because of the cost involved.

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