US smokers who want to quit getting new option

Washington

RICK Stewart didn't know about the laburnum trees growing in Bulgaria - and their potential to produce a drug for quitting smoking - back when he was the chief executive of pharmaceutical company Amarin. He was too deep inside the drug industry, a place often criticised for its short- sighted focus on profits. He had to fail first. Only then could he spot the opportunity in those yellow-flowering trees.

Now, with the help of the US National Institutes of Health, he is trying to introduce the laburnum-derived drug to the American market.