New drug for smoking cessation on the horizon

Filed in archive Investigational on November 16, 2005

An investigational drug for smoking cessation is in the works:

An experimental drug might make it a lot easier to stop smoking, new research suggests.

The drug, varenicline, quadrupled the chances that smokers could ditch their cigarettes when compared to a placebo; the chances were doubled when compared to Zyban, a drug already on the market to help smokers quit.

If approved, varenicline could become another weapon in the war against smoking.

"It becomes another option to help people quit," said Dr. Raymond Gibbons, president-elect of the American Heart Association. "It might capture more of the population."

But Gibbons warned that the drug "is not a magic bullet."

"There was only a 1-in-5 success rate at a year," he said. "It shows the importance of public education programs so people don't start in the first place."