Almost 10 million for research on cytisine!

We are pleased to announce that the University of Rzeszów (UR) received funding amounting to PLN 9,860,039.10 for the implementation of the project "Cytisine for electronic cigarette cessation: A randomized placebo-controlled trial" and thus took first place in the competition for non-commercial clinical trials in the field of psychiatry and neurology announced by the Medical Research Agency.

The call for applications for the competition for non-commercial clinical trials in the field of psychiatry and neurology lasted from May 5, 2021, to June 30, 2021. 27 applications of the total value of PLN 220,460,260.11 were submitted and 26 of them were accepted for further evaluation. Based on the ranking list prepared in the competition procedure, 10 projects received the funding, the total of which is PLN 87,246,662.68.

The UR project will be implemented by the Research Team from the Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology of the Institute of Medical Sciences. Prof. Piotr Tutka, MD, Ph.D. is the project manager.

Dependence on the e-cigarette ("vaping") has quickly become one of the greatest challenges of medicine. The use of e-cigarettes, initially introduced as an alternative to tobacco smoking, has increased dramatically over the last few years and has been declared as an "epidemic" by the US Food and Drug Administration. The percentage of e-cigarette users in the population of young Poles is already higher than the percentage of tobacco cigarette smokers.

Many patients attempt to quit e-cigarettes, however as many as 70% of them receive no assistance in this regard. As part of the Project, an innovative clinical trial will be carried out, the effect of which will be the development of pharmacotherapy for electronic cigarette dependence and the so-called dual addiction, i.e. to electronic cigarettes (vaping) and to the  traditional ones.

If the study turns out to be successful, its results will be the world's first scientific evidence on the basis of which the first drug to help people addicted to electronic cigarettes may be approved. From the scientific point of view, it will be an innovation and a breakthrough on a global scale, and from the implementation point of view, the study will have great health, social and economic significance for patients and the healthcare system in Poland and around the world.

Prof. Piotr Tutka, MD, Ph.D., Professor of Medical Sciences was a long-time researcher at the Medical University of Lublin. Currently, he is the Head of the Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology of the University of Rzeszów and the Head of the Innovative Research Laboratory, the Innovative Research Center of the University of Rzeszów. He is Professor at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Center, University of New South Wales in Sydney, an active clinician, a specialist in internal medicine and endocrinology, an expert in the field of neuropharmacology, clinical pharmacology and tobacco dependence. The author and co-author of 161 scientific articles with an impact factor of about 195, and the author and co-author of breakthrough studies on the anti-smoking potential of cytisine, as well as nicotine metabolism. The holder of a scientific scholarship of the University of California in San Francisco, the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacology in Milan and the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. The winner of many national and international scientific awards, including Merck Sharp & Dohme International Award in Clinical Pharmacology. A consultant of international clinical trials. A lecturer at many medical universities in Poland and around the world. The co-owner of two patents. A promoter of activities aimed at addictions prophylaxis and therapy.

The list of the accepted projects is available at:
https://abm.gov.pl/pl/aktualnosci/1132,Rozstrzygniecie-konkursu-na-niekomercyjne-badania-kliniczne-w-obszarze-psychiatr.html