For millions of frustrated smokers, drugmakers promise to help them quit with a little pill. But studies from the companies themselves don’t show very promising results.
“The drugs are approved because they’ve shown in FDA studies that they’re better than placebo,” said Dr. Edward Levin, a psychopharmacological researcher at Duke University Medical Center in Raleigh, N.C. “But being better than placebo doesn’t take a whole lot, so there really is room for improvement.”
Pfizer’s Chantix is the most effective therapy in quitting smoking, according to test results from a company-funded study conducted by Dr. Douglas Jorenby of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. During the 12 weeks that patients were on the drug, a little less than half were able to quit smoking.