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Chantix has small impact on rate at which smokers successfully quit

Since the introduction of Chantix as a smoking cessation drug, the drug has appeared to have no major impact on the rate at which adult smokers nationwide have successfully quit, according to study results.

“We had hoped the new pharmacotherapy would help more people quit, but this is not what is happening,” Shu-Hong Zhu, PhD, director of Center for Research and Intervention in Tobacco Control at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, said in a press release. “Instead, varenicline is replacing other options like the patch, without having any significant population-level impact on quitting success.”

Shu-Hong Zhu

Zhu and colleagues analyzed data from two cross-sectional nationwide population surveys from 2003 and 2010 to 2011 to assess if adding Chantix (varenicline, Pfizer) to existing pharmacotherapies increased the rate at which the population quit smoking.

The analysis included 34,869 smokers and recent quitters aged 18 years and older from 2003 and 27,751 participants from 2010 to 2011. The participants reported if they had ever used varenicline, bupropion or any other nicotine replacement therapies in their most recent attempt to quit.

Introduced in 2006, varenicline use increased to 10.9% in participants from the 2010 to 2011 survey. Overall use of pharmacotherapy to quit smoking increased from 28.7% in 2003 to 31.1% in 2010 to 2011.

However, the increase did not lead to a significantly high cessation success rate. In 2003, 4.5% of smokers reported successfully quitting while the rate slightly increased to 4.7% in 2010-2011 (P = .36).

“We are not saying Chantix does not help smokers quit,” Zhu said in the release. “It does, but it won’t solve America’s tobacco epidemic unless it inspires more smokers to try to quit.”

Zhu told Healio.com/Pulmonology that physicians need to encourage smokers to quit at each clinic visit.

"It is more important to encourage smokers to quit — which will increase the quit attempt rate — than prescribe cessation medication," he said. – by Ryan McDonald

Disclosure: Zhu reports no relevant financial disclosures.