Is There A Quit Smoking Pill That Will Help Me Stop Smoking The Easy Way?

I’ve been trying to stop smoking but it’s been tougher than I thought. Somehow I feel that my cravings have been somewhat elevated instead of reduced and I find myself back in square one again and again. Is there such a thing as a quit smoking pill that I can just take to make it go away? Is a quit smoking pill safe and effective? 

There is, indeed, a quit smoking pill available in the market today. It is, however, not very popular and widely received owing to the fact that it seems to work on some people and not on others. This so-called quit smoking pill was not, in fact, designed to curb the appetite for smoking, but rather as an anti-depressant that reduces withdrawal symptoms experienced when going cold turkey. This drug is called Zyban, most commonly known as Wellbutrin, and has a quit rate of only 8% to 16%.

There have been some recent breakthroughs in the area of smoking cessation over the past few years, due to the fact that the major pharmaceutical companies are racing to address the need of an effective quit smoking pill. Of course, the financial rewards of developing such a quit smoking pill is very appealing. It could also do a lot of good, if done the right way.

Probably the most promising quit smoking pill well awaited by the masses is Pfizer’s Chantrix, also known as Varenicline. When inhaled, nicotine normally binds to certain receptor sites in the brain, subsequently releasing dopamine to the brain’s pleasure centers. Pfizer researchers have identified which receptor sites the nicotine normally binds to and designed Chantrix to latch on those same receptor sites and delay the release of dopamine. This action reduces the craving experienced when the nicotine wears off. Chantrix literally deprives the smoker of any pleasure derived from smoking. Nausea has been reported as a common side effect. However, it is a small price to pay for a pill with a reported quit rate of 22% to 44%.

A similar quit smoking pill called Acomplia or Rimonabant is being developed by the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Synthelabo. Acomplia is designed not only to address smoking issues, but weight issues as well. By directly targeting the brain’s reward center, it reduces both the appetite for food and smoke. It is part of a new class of super drugs that aim to address several problems at the same time. Test patients were almost twice as likely to quit, as opposed to placebos. Test patients also showed less weight gain, as well. Sanofi-Synthelabo expects Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval within the year.

Indeed, with all these fantastic breakthroughs in the much neglected area of smoking cessation, it is only a matter of time before the perfect quit smoking pill is produced. With this in mind, quit smoking pills should be able to considerably reduce the mortality and morbidity rate brought about by smoking. Doctors and smokers alike can employ these wonder pills in their desire to curb smoking the easy way.