A Smart Wearable Nicotine Delivery System to Help Smokers Quit Smoking

SmartStop, a programmable transdermal wearable nicotine delivery device, has been able to vastly improve the smoking cessation rates by timing the release of nicotine to the smoker’s intense cravings.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking-related diseases cause more than 5 million deaths worldwide and this may further increase to 8 million deaths by 2030.

While 68.8% of smokers do attempt to quit smoking, only a small fraction of them succeed.

Most smokers try to quit smoking without using any evidence-based treatments but physicians suggest a range of treatment options to assist smokers overcome their cravings, such as:

• Clinical intervention
• Counseling
• Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)
• Non-nicotine medications
• Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT)

The smoking cessation rates of these methods vary widely but nicotine replacement therapy remains the most successful option, with 50% to 70% success rate, to quit smoking.

NRT administers nicotine using various means (transdermal patches, gums, inhalers, sprays and lozenges) in small doses to gradually lower the body’s cravings.

While transdermal (across the skin) nicotine delivery is not new, a New York-based company Chrono Therapeutics is about to launch a smart programmable nicotine replacement therapy product called SmartStop that offers a vastly improved personalized treatment with high efficacy.

How does the SmartStop Wearable Health Device Help Smokers to Quit?

The wearable health device is similar to a wrist-watch, delivering nicotine transdermally through a patch medium in small doses.

What separates SmartStop from other NRT products is that it predicts a smoker’s peak cravings and then times the nicotine release to automatically offset them.

Existing NRT products do not provide sufficient amounts of nicotine for a long time. They are not personalized and have to be taken manually. It is not possible to time the delivery using them.

SmartStop, on the other hand, customizes NRT dosage by analyzing the smoker’s sleep-wake cycle, meals timings and craving patterns.

This automated and individualized dosage has been proved to increase smoking cessation rates.

The company’s innovative approach earned two rounds of grants from the National Cancer Institute division of the National Institute of Health (NIH) totaling $1.8 million to commercialize SmartStop.

This is the first time in the history of the NIH that an initial Fast Track Phase I/Phase II grant this large has been issued for a programmable NRT product.

SmartStop will be the only product to combine the time-tested principles of NRT with the latest science on the predictable nature of smoking. Its therapeutic innovations include:

• The ability to automatically ensure compliance with a multi-dose regimen
• Customize for patient-specific levels of dependence and smoking patterns
• Administer nicotine automatically prior to waking to relieve peak morning craving without the side effects of night-long dosing
• Decrease tolerance to nicotine by gradually "tailoring-down" the dose to wean the smoker off cigarettes
• An automated "on-off" for nicotine administration
• Miniaturization combined with full functionality and visual appeal
• Key safety features including insulation of the nicotine reservoir from the skin and delivery
• Uptake mechanisms that limit risk of excessive dosage, which are absent from existing transdermal NRT products.

SmartStop is a smart fusion of a wearable health device and individualized digital behavioral support.

The device can be seamlessly connected to the smartphone via Bluetooth to provide data on dosage, automated timing of drug delivery, personal notifications to boost compliance adherence, personalized feedback and access to online coaching and community support.

This smart programmable drug delivery system overcomes the limitations of the existing nicotine replacement approaches and offers a far more effective and efficient means to help smokers quit smoking with very high smoking cessation success rate.

SmartStop could just be the miracle solution the world needs to fight smoking epidemic and prevent unnecessary deaths from smoking-related diseases.