Varenicline, which Phizer Inc. plans to market as Chantix, is the second nicotine-free drug of its type approved by the FDA.
"It's a welcome new addition. It's like cancer or heart disease or high blood pressure or diabetes: the more effective treatments you have, the better off the patients are," says Dr. Steven Schroder, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Varenicline works in two ways - it makes smoking less pleasurable and reduces nicotine-withdrawal symptoms.
Studies performed on about 2,000 people showed that 22 percent of the people given Varencline were still not smoking a year after the initial treatment began, while 16 percent of those given another anti-smoking drug, Zyban, were able to abstain. Only eight percent of the smokers who were given a placebo had stopped smoking after a year.
