New drug could help smokers quit but not to the extent experts were hoping

New drug could help smokers quit but not to the extent experts were hoping

A 2004 report by the US Surgeon General Statistics learnt that male smokers die 13.2 years before nonsmokers while smokers of the opposite sex die 14.5 years ahead of nonsmokers, highly tragic numbers. Soon or later something has to be done to narrow down the amount of people falling into this death trap. Well, Pfizer Inc believes it has managed to come out with something significant in this regards.

A new, experimental drug by Pfizer can help smokers to give up their fatal cigarette habit, according to a research released on Tuesday at the American Heart Association conference. The disappointing factor though was that the positive effect of the drug on smokers was not as prominent as experts were anticipating. Having said that, they did perform better than the currently prescribed Zyban.

Numerous tests were undertaken in Europe on close to 2,000 thousand smokers which revealed that in the course of the 12-week research, 44% of varenicline users managed to stop smoking as opposed to 30% of the participants treated with Glaxo's Zyban (chemical name bupropion.) Lastly a mere 17.7 percent placed in the placebo division managed to quit.

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However, results weren't as striking in the year after preliminary treatment with Pfizer Inc.'s varenicline. Only 22% of the subjects were able to control their smoking routine, just 6% more than the ones who were given Zyban. Among those treated with the fake drug, only 8% managed to quit.

Varenicline functions in a totally diverse manner as opposed to nicotine patches or the drugs presently being used in an effort to curb smoking. This drug from Pfizer connects with the same receptors in the brain which respond to nicotine consumption- the binding of nicotine with the brain leads to addiction.

The drug was also seen as having some side effects, with nausea being the common complaint. However, Dr. Serena Tonstad, a preventive cardiology specialist at the University of Oslo, Norway, and head of the study said hardly 3% of the partakers in the research quit taking the drug due to nausea.

While Tonstad termed the study as rich evidence pertaining to the efficacy of the drug, not every one was impressed.

Dr. Timothy Gardner, a Delaware cardiologist feels 22 percent per year is too small a number to term this as an effective drug therapy.

Pfizer, whose earnings are expected to take a massive plunge owing to the controversy surrounding Celebrex arthritis drug, is banking on varenicline and other new drugs to turn around their fortunes.