Pfizer to launch smoking cessation aid

Pfizer has confirmed that next month it is to launch a new smoking cessation aid for people in Japan.

The Champix tablet 0.5mg/1mg (varenicline tartrate) was developed as the first non-nicotine drug to help people stop smoking in the US. It is set to become the first oral smoking cessation aid available to the Japanese public when it is launched on May 8th 2008.

“Pfizer is delighted to be able to provide patients and physicians in Japan with Champix, a breakthrough medicine for smoking cessation that has helped millions of smokers who want to quit,” said chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer Jeff Kindler.

Champix works by reducing the withdrawal symptoms associated with giving up smoking by acting on the same receptor in the brain as nicotine. It stimulates the receptor, helping to reduce the craving associated with giving up cigarettes.

During 2006, Pfizer spent some four billion pounds on research and development projects around the world.