Extended treatment with the smoking cessation drug varenicline (Chantix) significantly improved the ability of individuals with serious mental illness to maintain abstinence from tobacco after a standard 12-week course of treatment. In this Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) study – the first randomized, controlled trial of maintenance pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation in such patients – participants who quit smoking and then received varenicline along with cognitive behavioral therapy for an additional 40 weeks were three times more successful in maintaining abstinence from smoking than those who received cognitive behavioral therapy and a placebo drug.
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