Nicotine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Nicotine is a cholinergic nicotinic agonist sold in the U.S. under 4 brand and generic names, for ulcerative colitis and tobacco use disorder. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Drug class
- Cholinergic Nicotinic Agonist
- Treats (across its forms)
- Ulcerative Colitis and Tobacco Use Disorder
- Available as
- Kit · Patch, extended release · Spray/Inhaler, metered · Film, extended release
- Sold as
- 4 products — Habitrol, Nicoderm Cq and Nicotrol, and others
- Prescription?
- Both Rx and OTC forms
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $11 for a 30-count supply — not your price
How Habitrol is dosed
From the FDA label for Habitrol (application NDA020076). Other nicotine products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Directions • if you are under 18 years of age, ask a doctor before use • before using this product, read the enclosed self-help guide for complete directions and other information • begin using the patch on your quit day • if you smoke more than 10 cigarettes per day, use the following schedule below: • if you smoke 10 or less cigarettes per day , start with Step 2 for 6 weeks, then Step 3 for 2 weeks • apply one new patch every 24 hours on skin that is dry, clean and hairless • remove backing from patch and immediately press onto skin. Hold for 10 seconds. • wash hands after applying or removing patch. Save pouch to use for patch disposal. Dispose of the used patches by folding sticky ends together and putting in pouch. • the used patch should be removed and a new one applied to a different skin site at the same time each day • if you have vivid dreams, you may remove the patch at bedtime and apply a new one in the morning • do not wear more than one patch at a time • do not cut patch in half or into smaller pieces • do not leave patch on for more than 24 hours because it may irritate your skin and loses strength after 24 hours • to avoid possible burns, remove patch before undergoing any MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) procedures • It is important to complete treatment. If you feel you need to use the patch for a longer period to keep from smoking, talk to your health care…
Every nicotine product we track (4)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
| # | Drug | Rating | Type | Form | Generic? | Pharmacy pays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Not yet rated | Over-the-counter | Kit | Generic | $11 | View → | |
| 2 | Not yet rated | Over-the-counter | Patch | Generic | $11 | View → | |
| 3 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Spray/Inhaler | Generic | $11 | View → | |
| 4 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Film | Generic | $11 | View → |
What nicotine pills look like
Imprint codes, colour and shape from the FDA’s labelling data. Match the imprint on your pill — or search any imprint.
| Imprint | Strength | Colour | Shape | Maker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L344 | 2 mg | white | round | — |
Nicotine recalls
From the FDA Enforcement database. A recall covers specific lots — not the drug as a whole.
Can you crush or split nicotine?
At least one nicotineproduct is labelled to be swallowed whole — crushing an extended-release tablet releases the whole day’s dose at once. Which applies depends on the form you were given.
What each nicotine label says about crushing, splitting and chewingNicotine and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for nicotine: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadSmoking tobacco reduces milk yield and often results in early cessation of breastfeeding. Stopping smoking during pregnancy may increase the likelihood of initiating breastfeeding postpartum. Maternal smoking is also a major risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome.. Some authors and guidelines have advocated use of nicotine replacement products in smoking mothers to reduce the risk to breastfed infants of inhaled smoke and toxins in maternal cigarette smoke. However, others point out that based on animal data, nicotine may increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome and might interfere with normal infant lung development. These authors recommend against using any form of nicotine in nursing mothers. No studies have been performed to resolve these issues, but one report indicates that a neonate exposed to nicotine during pregnancy had withdrawal symptoms that were relieves somewhat by maternal breastmilk. Only nicotine patches have been formally studied in nursing mothers, but a mother with high doses of oral nicotine pouches developed hyperprolactinemia of about 25 times normal.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised July 15, 2026. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about nicotine
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 26,611 reports naming nicotine, and the FDA flagged 48% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- nausea2,026 reports
- nicotine dependence1,652 reports
- headache1,096 reports
- dizziness1,008 reports
- malaise964 reports
- product adhesion issue959 reports
- dyspnoea854 reports
- vomiting851 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean nicotine caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved August 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is Habitrol?
Use reduces withdrawal symptoms, including nicotine craving, associated with quitting smoking
What kind of drug is nicotine?
The FDA classifies nicotine as a cholinergic nicotinic agonist. If you are checking whether it is safe to combine with something else, the class is what matters — two drugs from the same class usually should not be stacked.
Can you take nicotine with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run nicotine against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What brand names is nicotine sold under?
We track 4 nicotine-containing products in the U.S.: Habitrol, Nicoderm Cq, Nicotrol and Prostep. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does nicotine come in?
Across the brands we track, nicotine is currently marketed as kit, patch, extended release, spray/inhaler, metered and film, extended release, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic nicotine?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled nicotine product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Has nicotine been recalled?
The FDA's Enforcement database lists 1 recall record whose product description mentions nicotine. The most recent: Nicotine Transdermal System Patch (May 14, 2026). A recall applies to specific lots, not to the drug as a whole — check the record for the affected lot numbers.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Nicotine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/nicotine
- MLA
- “Nicotine: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/nicotine.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for nicotine on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.