The US Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it approved Pfizer's Chantix tablet to help cigarette smokers stop smoking. The active ingredient in Chantix, varenicline tartrate, acts at sites in the brain affected by nicotine, the FDA said.
The drug may help smokers trying to kick the habit by providing some nicotine effects to ease the withdrawal symptoms, and by blocking the effects of nicotine from cigarettes if they resume smoking, the agency said.
Chantix received a priority FDA review because of its "significant potential benefit" to public health, the agency said.
"Tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking, is the single most preventable cause of death in the United States and is responsible for a growing list of cancers as well as chronic diseases including those of the lung and heart," Dr Scott Gottlieb, FDA deputy commissioner, said in a statement.
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