UNDATED (WJRT) - (11/17/06)-- There is a new stop smoking pill that is working magic for a lot of people who had just about given up in quitting. HealthFirst reporter Leslie LoBue says the drug called Chantix just hit shelves in May and it is working for a lot of people.

The average smoker tries to quit at least six times before they succeed.

"I have tried to quit I don't know how many times, and I am a two-pack-a-day smoker," said Tom Renaud.

Tom found the solution that has helped a lot of smokers - the new stop smoking drug Chantix.

You start taking the drug twice a day for a week before your actual quit date.

"By day three it was cut in half. I only smoked a pack at day three and by day seven, the day before the quit date, I only smoked three cigarettes all day long. So from two packs to that in just the "get ready" week, that's incredible," Renaud said.

So what does Chantix do that seems to satisfy the nicotine craving? After all, it doesn't have nicotine in it.

"It essentially blocks the action of nicotine in your brain. And by doing that, it is giving you a little sense of satisfaction that the patient would normally get from the cigarette smoke," explained Dr. Stephen Harrison, from Genesys.

Harrison says that even if your insurance doesn't cover it, Chantix only costs about four dollars a day, cheaper than most cigarettes.

Most people stay on Chantix for twelve weeks and it is not an antidepressant, which is what the other stop smoking drug, Zyban is. So if you have tried that, Chantix is not even in the same class of drugs.

I do know one person who has taken it and said it

make them physically ill, but like we mentioned, so many of our viewers wrote in saying it worked, we had to check it out.

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=healthfirst&id=4772362