Rapid Response Questions Conclusions of Nicotine Replacement Therapy Study, Asks Whether Financial Conflict of Interest Biased Study Conclusions

My rapid response to the BMJ study which concluded that nicotine replacement therapy is effective in achieving long-term smoking cessation among smokers who express little desire to quit smoking was published today. In the response, I question the validity of the conclusion that an intervention which has a 98.4% failure rate (as the authors found for NRT treatment) is an effective approach (as the paper concluded NRT treatment is). I also note that because of one of the author's financial conflicts of interest with a pharmaceutical company that manufacturers a large variety nicotine replacement products, it has the appearance that this conflict of interest was what resulted in the very slanted (and rather absurd) study conclusions.