Stop-smoking drug in more addiction trials

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- The quit-smoking pill Chantix, linked to psychiatric problems in some people taking it, is being tested on addicts and other high-risk patients, experts said.

Soon after its introduction in 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began receiving reports of severe psychiatric disturbances in people taking Chantix, with more cases of violence and reports of suicide, self-injury and depression than any other smoking-cessation therapy.

Despite this, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and other medical centers are now testing it in alcohol, cocaine and methamphetamine addicts who may be especially vulnerable to such problems, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday.

Testing is warranted, experts say, because some addictions are so devastating the benefits of a medication that aids abstinence would far outweigh the risks of possible side-effects.

"Alcoholism is a life-threatening disease," said Joanne Fertig of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, where Chantix is being tested on alcoholics. "I think it's imperative for us to keep looking and screening medications that are out there."

Chantix curbs the compulsion to smoke by binding to certain receptors in the brain, blocking nicotine inhaled from cigarettes, and also partly activates the receptors, stimulating release of dopamine, the "pleasure chemical," to ease withdrawal and cravings.

Alcohol and other addictive substances also increase dopamine, so Chantix may be able to weaken non-nicotine addictions, researchers said.