Ex-smoker researched product for five years
Yongyuth Tundulawessa used to be a heavy smoker, but kicked the habit. Now he intends to help others quit by introducing locally made nicotine gum.
The associate professor, who is deputy dean of the science faculty at Srinakharinwirot University's Prasarnmit campus, has registered the gum, Nicomild-2, with the Intellectual Property Department. It will be officially launched at the university on Tuesday.
With the registration, the university will become Thailand's first copyright owner of a nicotine gum formula.
Mr Yongyuth said he has researched his formula for nicotine gum since 2002. He obtained university funding in 2005 to continue the research.
The university recently signed a contract with Millimed Co Lt for the manufacture and sale of the product to pharmacies.
''I am interested in this because I used to be a smoker. I wondered why nobody produced nicotine chewing gum in our country and we have had to import the products for years.
''I didn't think it was so complicated (to produce nicotine chewing gum). So I began studying it,'' Mr Yongyuth said, adding Nicomild-2, which will sell for 60 baht a pack, is one-third the price of imported nicotine gum.
''I recruited 50 volunteers to participate in a trial. The volunteers were male, from 30 to 70. They were given my nicotine chewing gum for 21 days, taking nine pieces a day. The results showed 30 volunteers were able to quit, 10 stopped smoking sometimes and eight reduced their smoking. Only two couldn't quit,'' he said.
With the help of Dr Prakit Vathesatogkit, chairman of the Action on Smoking and Health Foundation, the sale of nicotine chewing gum is allowed without a doctor's prescription, he said.
Mr Yongyuth said each piece of the gum contains 2.4mg of nicotine.
''Most smokers fail when they try to stop smoking abruptly. They can still take in nicotine by chewing gum, which is better than inhaling cigarette smoke which contains tar that puts them at risk of lung cancer,'' he said.
In principle, the gum works like ''smokeless cigarettes'', he said.
Mr Yongyuth said smokers with strong determination c
an quit smoking within three months by using his nicotine gum.
Somnuek Kasikram, 39, a Srinakharinwirot University Prasarnmit civil servant and one of the two volunteers who failed to quit smoking, said smokers who want to quit need to have a strong determination.
Without that, he said, even with the help of nicotine chewing gum quitting is difficult.
Mr Somnuek said he stopped smoking for two days when he used the gum, but started again on the third day.
Tassaneeya Leksrisawad, manufacturing director of Millimed Co, said Nicomild-2 gum, which was put on sale at drugstores nationwide in mid-Feb, was well-received locally.
In the future, the product may be introduced in neighbouring countries, she said.
Source : Supoj Wancharoen
Bangkok Post, 25 Feb 07