Stop Smoking with Chantix

Treatment that only physicians have available for treating smoking cessation is a new group of drugs based on the principle that certain chemicals reduce the craving without substituting the nicotine the brain demands. The very helpful use of substitute nicotine in the gum, the patch, the inhaler, or the tablets, eliminates the need to resort to the cigarette to satisfy what the brain needs for this addictive chemical. Nicotine substitution is not harmful at all but the smoking of course with the hazardous chemicals inhaled must be completely eliminated. The new approach does not substitute nicotine for the cigarette but reduces the “interest” of the smoker to continually take up cigarettes.

Pfizer has obtained federal approval for a medication, Chantix, available since early 2006. There are some very important advantages to the Chantix as well as some potential difficulties in its administration. It is a drug that must be prescribed by a physician since it is not an over-the-counter item as the nicotine gum or patch are. The study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association on 1,413 smokers showed that Chantix during the time of 9 weeks until 52 weeks, until one year of starting the treatment, 23% gave up cigarettes completely. This was compared with Zyban (Wellbutrin) where the results were 14.6%.

About 10% of the Chantix patients however had to discontinue due to side effects, the most common being nausea. It was concluded that Chantix was a safe and well-tolerated treatment which was apparently more effective than Zyban. The study did not compare Chantix with nicotine substitution and of course not with the multiple treatments that medical offices can offer patients. All these studies are basically on one technique only studied but in the real world of treatment multiple therapies are best combined for the individual patient.

Chantix offers one serious concern, namely it is a matter of several week until it is effective. During that time since the idea is to change the chemical dependency on nicotine, no smoking should take place. This would obviously leave the smoker in a position of nicotine deprivation resulting in likely craving while the Chantix has yet to have kicked in fully.

In our experience this may well be a useful drug but further evaluation will be required and under no circumstances will this be the sole treatment. There are other chemicals under development that will be working in a similar fashion to Chantix.

There have been considerable concerns of the side effects of this drug. For
instance, because of the potential tiredness, the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration has banned truck drivers and bus drivers from using
Chantix. The FDA has received several reports of suicidal thoughts as well
as aggressive and erratic behavior among patients taking Chantix. There are
also reports of suicidal attempt and death experienced by Chantix users.

In terms of the other multiple treatments available for smoking cessation,
the potential risk of Chantix in my opinion is far in excess of the
potential advantages. For that reason this office almost never prescribes
Chantix.