According to the Telegraph, Doctors in Great Britain monitoring the safety of Zyban, an anti-smoking drug, have reported the deaths of 18 patients who had been prescribed the medicine.

Since it became available on a prescription basis last June, 270,000 smokers in Britain have been given courses of the drug, which works by inhibiting the craving for cigarettes. The Telegraph reports that the British version of the FDA, the Medicines Control Agency, which is conducting an intensive monitoring program on Zyban, has received reports of 3,457 patients complaining of adverse reactions.

There have been 73 reports of people suffering seizures. One of those was a Manchester ambulance driver who crashed when responding to an emergency call.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We have asked GPs to report all suspected adverse reactions. The drug has been widely prescribed so we were expecting a large number of reports.

Australian Health authorities are investigating the deaths of nine Australians to establish whether their use of the controversial anti-smoking drug Zyban was a contributing factor. Canadian officials are also investigating the safety of Zyban, according to Health Canada data dating back to September 1999- there have been 407 adverse events related to Zyban, of which include three reported deaths.

In the United States, Zyban has been prescribed to more than 5 million smokers since it was approved by the FDA, as a prescription anti-smoking drug in 1997. Previously, it was available as an antidepressant under the brand name Wellbutrin.

In a New York Post story in May 2001, Dr. Jerome Giron, pulmonary specialist at the NYU Downtown hospital believes the deaths overseas should not be ignored. Giron has prescribed Zyban to about 100 patients, and only around a third have stuck with the drug for the full eight-week course, he said.

"I've found it's not very well tolerated. People have said that they feel "spaced out" and "jittery" like they were going out of their minds. There've been a lot of problems with nervousness."

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