MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Coenie Koegelenberg, MBChB, MMed (Int), FCP (SA), MRCP (UK), Cert Pulm (SA), PhD Associate Professor: Pulmonology Stellenbosch University & Tygerberg Academic Hospital Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Koegelenberg: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of combining varenicline and a nicotine patch versus varenicline alone as an aid to smoking cessation in a double-blind study design in a larger group and with a longer assessment period than has been studied to date. It was found that the combination treatment was associated with a statistically significant and clinically important higher continuous abstinence rate at 12 weeks (55.4% vs. 40.9%; P=.007) and 24 weeks (49.0% vs. 32.6%; P=.004), and point prevalence abstinence rate at 6 months (65.1% vs. 46.7%; P=.002). The present study was not adequately powered to fully assess safety and tolerability endpoints, but the results suggest that adverse events were balanced across treatment arms, except for mild skin reactions that were more frequently observed in the nicotine patch group (14.4% vs. 7.8%, P=.03). (more…)