Prochaska Judith, Rubinstein Mark, Perdok Renee, Blumenstein Brent, Jacobs Cindy
Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
Achieve Life Sciences Inc, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Thorax. 2025 Sep 17. doi: 10.1136/thorax-2025-223880.
Quitting smoking is essential for stabilising and improving respiratory function in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of cytisinicline versus placebo for cessation among smokers with and without COPD.
This post hoc analysis used combined data from the phase 3 ORCA-2 (Ongoing Research of Cytisinicline for Addiction) and ORCA-3 double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. Participants received 6 or 12 weeks of cytisinicline or placebo. Of 1602 participants, 145 (9.3%) self-reported COPD.
Participants received 3 mg of cytisinicline three times daily (6 weeks: n=532; 12 weeks: n=534) or placebo (12 weeks: n=536), plus behavioural support.
Biochemically verified continuous smoking abstinence during the last 4 treatment weeks.
COPD participants were older, smoked longer and had greater nicotine dependence. Cytisinicline was associated with significantly higher smoking abstinence compared with placebo in both COPD and non-COPD subgroups. There was no statistical evidence of heterogeneity in treatment effect between arms. In the 6-week arm, quit estimates were 17.3% versus 2.1% (OR 9.7, p=0.03) for COPD and 19.3% versus 5.5% (OR 4.1, p<0.0001) for non-COPD. In the 12-week arm, quit estimates were 19.1% versus 4.3% (OR 5.3, p=0.04) for COPD and 32.6% versus 8.6% (OR 5.2, p<0.0001) for non-COPD. Cytisinicline was well tolerated with no serious treatment-related events.
Cytisinicline significantly increased quitting for smokers with and without COPD and was well tolerated. The findings support cytisinicline as a viable treatment for smokers with COPD who want to quit.
ORCA-2 (NCT04576949) and ORCA-3 (NCT05206370).
