New smoking cessation treatment from Pfizer

Two recent studies were published in the Journal of American Medical Association about a new drug for smoking cessation (Gonzales et al, 2006; Jorenby et al 2006). Unlike other approved treatments for smoking cessation including nictotine replacement therapy, or selectively inhibit the reuptake of dopamine (Bubrorpion), Chantix is a partial agonist of the alpha 4 Beata 2 nictotinic acetylcholine receptor.

In the study both of these studies, Chantix's efficacy exceeded buproprion SR and placebo (Jorenby et al, 2007). During the last four weeks of treatment, 43.9% of participants in the varenicline group were abstinent from smoking compared with 17.6% and 29% in the placebo and buprioprion SR groups respectively.



Gonzales D, Rennard SI, Nides M, Oncken C, Azoulay S, Billing CB, Watsky EJ, Gong J, Williams KE, Reeves KR; Varenicline Phase 3 Study Group. Varenicline, an alpha4beta2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist, vs sustained-release bupropion and placebo for smoking cessation: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2006 Jul 5;296(1):47-55.


Jorenby DE, Hays JT, Rigotti NA, Azoulay S, Watsky EJ, Williams KE, Billing CB, Gong J, Reeves KR; Varenicline Phase 3 Study Group. Efficacy of varenicline, an alpha4beta2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist, vs placebo or sustained-release bupropion for smoking cessation: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2006 Jul 5;296(1):56-63.


http://www.chantix.com/

How does smoking cigaretts affect your joint health?

Many of us are aware of how smoking can affect our lungs and cardiovascular system. One side-effect of smoking many of us may not be aware of is how it affects our joint health. In medical school, one of the first things that I've learned is that "quitting smoking is the single best thing that you can do for your health." Now, here's one more reason:

"Smoking leads to knee cartilage loss and defect development primarily in individuals with a family history of knee OA. This provides evidence for a gene-environment interaction in the etiology of knee OA" (Ding et al, 2007).

Ding C, Cicuttini F, Blizzard L, Jones G. Smoking interacts with family history with regard to change in knee cartilage volume and cartilage defect development. Arthritis Rheum. 2007 May;56(5):1521-8.