Drug trials are often done on “sanitized” populations. What Chantix is finding out is that its target population hardly resembles the one from the trials:
These days, 44% of all cigarettes in the U.S. are smoked by people with diagnosed mental disorders, including schizophrenics and alcoholics . . .. . . Either way, smokers with psychiatric illnesses weren’t included in the premarketing trials for Chantix. As a result, Chantix (generic name: varenicline) is only now being used with a real-world population, which could explain some of the adverse reactions.
