--- title: Most Effective Way to Quit Smoking: Pill and Patch Combo description: Combining varenicline and the nicotine patch was more effective in helping smokers quit after six months than the drug alone canonical: https://time.com/2967646/this-is-the-new-best-way-to-quit-smoking-study-finds/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-09T12:30:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:02:03.999Z article:section: Health og:title: Most Effective Way to Quit Smoking: Pill and Patch Combo og:description: Combining varenicline and the nicotine patch was more effective in helping smokers quit after six months than the drug alone og:url: https://time.com/2967646/this-is-the-new-best-way-to-quit-smoking-study-finds/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Most Effective Way to Quit Smoking: Pill and Patch Combo twitter:description: Combining varenicline and the nicotine patch was more effective in helping smokers quit after six months than the drug alone twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Is The New Best Way to Quit Smoking, Study Finds > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 9, 2014 12:30 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 9, 2014 12:30 PM UTC Quitting smoking can be a frustrating challenge, and no single therapy works dramatically well. Nicotine replacement strategies – the patch, gum or lozenges—can help wean smokers off nicotine gradually, but [don’t often work in keeping smokers abstinent](http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/09/nicotine-gum-and-patch-dont-help-smokers-quit-long-term/) over the long term. The prescription drug [varenicline](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2011254%5F2015227%5F2015225,00.html), or Chantix, which curbs smoking by occupying and blocking the same nicotine receptors in the brain used by the nicotine in cigarettes, makes nicotine less pleasurable. But studies show that it’s only about 33% effective in keeping smokers off cigarettes after 12 weeks. Researchers in South Africa, however, report in _JAMA_ that combining varenicline with the nicotine patch boosted that quit rate to 49% among a group of 435 smokers who were randomly assigned to take either the pills and the patch or the pills and a placebo patch. Smokers on the pills and patch were nearly twice as likely to be abstinent after six months than those who took the pills alone with a dummy patch. **MORE:** [Nicotine Gum and Patch Don’t Help Smokers Quit Long Term](http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/09/nicotine-gum-and-patch-dont-help-smokers-quit-long-term/) “The efficacy of combining the two drugs cannot be readily explained,” Dr. Coenraad Koegelenberg, lead author of the study from Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, wrote in an email response to questions about the findings. It’s possible that the timing of the pills and the patch worked in the smokers’ favor. While both varenicline and the nicotine patch target the same nicotine receptors in the brain, they have different effects; the nicotine from the patch activates the nicotine receptors and provides the same pleasurable sensations that cigarettes would, while varenincline is designed to bind and block the effects of nicotine on the brain. Varenincline is more effective at binding to these receptors, while nicotine from the patch is slower to activate, so starting on the patch may wean smokers from nicotine, and the varenicline may have helped them to drop cigarettes completely. **MORE:** [Hope for Quitters? Scientists Devise a New Nicotine Vaccine](http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/28/hope-for-quitters-scientists-devise-a-new-nicotine-vaccine/) Interestingly, the one-two punch didn’t work by lowering craving for nicotine. They also did not find a significantly increased risk of side effects, including depression or nausea, in the varenicline group. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2009 added a black box warning alerting users to the potential for suicidal thoughts, although a [2013 study](http://healthland.time.com/2013/09/18/study-despite-black-box-warning-chantix-okay-for-smokers-with-depression/) found no greater risk of depression among smokers with depression or who had had depression in the past. The results raise important questions about how current smoking cessation treatments might be more effective if used in combination. Currently, varenicline is not recommended with other nicotine-replacement strategies; for that to change, other studies showing similar results to this one would be needed. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2967646/this-is-the-new-best-way-to-quit-smoking-study-finds/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2967646/this-is-the-new-best-way-to-quit-smoking-study-finds/"},"headline":"This Is The New Best Way to Quit Smoking, Study Finds","datePublished":"2014-07-09T12:30:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:02:03.999Z","description":"Combining varenicline and the nicotine patch was more effective in helping smokers quit after six months than the drug alone","url":"https://time.com/2967646/this-is-the-new-best-way-to-quit-smoking-study-finds/","keywords":["Smoking","tobacco","Nicotine"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/smoking/","name":"Smoking"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2967646/this-is-the-new-best-way-to-quit-smoking-study-finds/","name":"This Is The New Best Way to Quit Smoking, Study Finds"}}]}] ```