It can be difficult to quit smoking, and over the years, many different methods, from using nicotine gum to medications, have been developed in order to attempt to help people quit. Still, it's been hard to find a new pill that stops smoking consistently. However, recently a new pill to stop smoking, Chantix, has been developed that shows promise in effectively helping people to quit. To understand what makes this new pill to stop smoking better than the ones that came before it, let's take a look at how its predecessor worked and how Chantix improves upon it.

Wellbutrin

The previous king among anti-smoking medication was Wellbutrin, which was not developed specifically to stop smoking, but was used as an antidepressant. However, it was found to help block receptors in brain cells that cause nicotine cravings, which in turn help to reduce the symptoms of having those cravings as well as the withdrawal symptoms. It's the reduction of cravings which make this drug work well, and at the time, a new pill to stop smoking was a great thing.

Improvements

But since Wellbutrin’s original use was for something else, scientists wanted to find something more effective. To that end, they tried to develop a new pill to stop smoking, using their knowledge of how Wellbutrin works on receptors in the brain. What they developed was a new pill to stop smoking, Chantix, that works on the same receptors as Wellbutrin, but in a different way. Rather than inhibit those receptors, Chantix stimulates them by providing similar effects to that of nicotine use, which helps to reduce withdrawal symptoms. The use of Chantix also helps to block nicotine from getting to those receptors if a user takes up smoking again.

Results

The results of clinical trials of Chantix have proved it to be more effective than Wellbutrin for quitting smoking. The potential of this new pill to stop smoking was considered to be big enough that the FDA gave it a priority review, which means they reduced the length of their own study of the drug by a significant portion of time, allowing it to be brought to market and to help the most people. The effectiveness of this new pill to stop smoking is not in dispute; if you are having difficulty with cigarette addiction, then you should discuss this with your doctor, and perhaps he can prescribe this new pill to stop smoking, so you can get the good health that you need.