Clinical Trial Details
— Status: Completed
Administrative data
NCT number |
NCT02951143 |
Other study ID # |
R01DA042535 |
Secondary ID |
|
Status |
Completed |
Phase |
N/A
|
First received |
|
Last updated |
|
Start date |
January 2017 |
Est. completion date |
November 2019 |
Study information
Verified date |
August 2021 |
Source |
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University |
Contact |
n/a |
Is FDA regulated |
No |
Health authority |
|
Study type |
Interventional
|
Clinical Trial Summary
Tobacco regulatory policies can have unanticipated consequences; therefore, methods that
would permit prospective estimates of the effects of potential tobacco regulations are
necessary for the development of tobacco regulatory science. The goal of this project is to
experimentally assess how smokers purchase and consume reduced-nicotine cigarettes. In
experiment 1, we will investigate how purchasing/consuming reduced-nicotine cigarettes is
related to nicotine content and absorption. In experiment 2, we will investigate how
purchasing/consuming changes when other nicotine products are available in an experimental
marketplace setting. The proposed projects can directly inform tobacco regulation by
providing estimates of the real-world effects of novel policies.
Description:
The specific objective in Experiment 1 is to examine the effect of nicotine content (0.4
mg/g, 1.4 mg/g, 2.5 mg/g, 5.6 mg/g, and 17.4 mg/g of tobacco) and blood nicotine absorption
on laboratory behavioral economic measures of demand intensity and elasticity. Under
double-blind conditions, we will examine the relationship between plasma nicotine and
cigarette demand as a function of the dose of the nicotine in the cigarettes. Regular
cigarette smokers will consume, on separate sessions, controlled puffs of a cigarette
containing a blinded dose of nicotine then complete a cigarette purchase task, our measure of
value, while plasma nicotine is measured. We hypothesize that cigarette demand will be
associated with dose and level of circulating nicotine, but in a nonlinear fashion such that
consumption of very low dose cigarettes will not be predicted by nicotine dose or intake
alone.
To inform how various products may interact, we have developed and tested a novel method
called the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace. The Experimental Tobacco Marketplace is a
systematic extension of similar marketplace methods used with other consumer products (e.g.,
food marketplaces used in obesity and other nutrition-related research; Epstein, Dearing,
Roba, & Finkelstein, 2010). In experimental marketplaces, multiple products are available and
the experimenter controls the prices for each. These marketplaces can be either physical or
virtual stores (similar to online retailers) and permit the examination of demand elasticity
and intensity and degree of substitution or complementarity in consumer behavior under
conditions that approximate naturalistic settings.
Experiment 2 will extend findings from the first experiment examining the effects of
different concentrations of nicotine in cigarettes (0.4mg/g, 1.4mg/g, 2.5mg/g, 5.6mg/g,
17.4mg/g) and blood nictotine absorption on laboratory behavioral economic demand measures.
Employing this innovative Experimental Tobacco Marketplace, we propose to examine
reduced-nicotine cigarettes under the following conditions: 1) control conditions where lower
dose nicotine cigarettes are the only available product in the Experimental Tobacco
Marketplace and where the tobacco marketplace is similar to the current real-world
marketplace (i.e., no lower dose nicotine cigarettes, but a variety of other tobacco
products); 2) lower dose nicotine cigarettes are available with a number of other nicotine
products excluding conventional cigarettes; and 3) lower dose nicotine cigarettes are
available with a number of other nicotine products including conventional cigarettes.