BACKGROUND Varenicline is a nicotinic receptor partial agonist indicated for the cessation of smoking. It is regarded as having no or minimal renal toxicity. A single case report has linked it to acute interstitial nephritis. CASE PRESENTATION A 56 year-old female with a long-standing history of idiopathic membranous glomerulonephritis presented on routine follow-up with an unexpected rise in...

OBJECTIVE To review the evidence on the efficacy and safety of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies for smoking cessation. QUALITY OF EVIDENCE MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched for randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews (level I evidence) pertinent to pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic smoking cessation therapie...

Drug dependence is a chronic brain disease characterized by recurrent episodes of relapse, even when the person is motivated to quit. Relapse is a major problem and new pharmacotherapies are needed to prevent relapse episodes. The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) plays an important role in nicotine dependence, alcohol consumption and cue-induced cocaine craving. Stimulation of the nAChR...

OBJECTIVE To examine the risk of treatment emergent, cardiovascular serious adverse events associated with varenicline use for tobacco cessation. DESIGN Meta-analysis comparing study effects using four summary estimates. DATA SOURCES Medline, Cochrane Library, online clinical trials registries, and reference lists of identified articles. REVIEW METHODS We included randomised controlled tr...

RATIONALE Smoking cessation interventions in outpatient settings have been demonstrated to be cost effective. Given this evidence, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of varenicline tartrate plus Quitline-counselling compared with Quitline-counselling alone when initiated in the inpatient setting. METHODS Adult patients (18-75 years) admitted with a smoking-related illness to three hospita...

Evidence Cochrane reviews: • Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT): 132 RCTs.1 -Overall risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of abstinence: 1.58 (1.50 to 1.66); similar for gum, patch, inhaler, and lozenge. -Adverse events (AEs): local irritation related to product type; no evidence of increased myocardial infarction. • Antidepressants: 49 bupropion and 9 nortriptyline RCTs.2 -The RR (...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of varenicline compared with the other smoking cessation interventions, bupropion, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), and willpower. METHODS The Benefits of Smoking Cessation on Outcomes model was modified to reflect major smoking-related diseases in Korea. Transitional probabilities, resource utilization, and costs were obtained ...

Researchers assessed the efficacy of varenicline (a licensed cigarette smoking cessation aid) in helping users of smokeless tobacco to quit. A double blind placebo controlled parallel group randomised controlled trial study design was used. The intervention was varenicline 1 mg twice daily. Treatment was delivered for 12 weeks, with 14 weeks’ follow-up afterwards. Participants were aged 18 year...

AIMS We assessed to what degree smokers who fail to quit on the target quit date (TQD) or lapse following TQD eventually achieve success with continued treatment. DESIGN A secondary analysis of pooled data of successful quitters treated with varenicline (306 of 696), bupropion (199 of 671) and placebo (121 of 685) from two identically-designed clinical trials of varenicline versus bupropion s...

In 2006, Chantix (varenicline) splashed boldly onto the nicotine cessation medication scene with full Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval following the completion of three distinct Pfizer-funded clinical trials (Jorenby et al., 2006; Gonzales et al., 2006; Tonstad et al., 2006). Almost immediately, however, and contrary to the initial findings supporting the safety and efficacy of varen...