The FDA issued a new Chantix warning in June, alerting health care professionals and patients to the results of a new randomized, double-blind clinical trial of 700 smokers who were given either Chantix or a placebo. All of the participants had been diagnosed previously with heart disease. After 12 weeks on Chantix, researchers found that more than twice as many Chantix patients suffered heart-related problems than the placebo patients.

The events included angina pectoris, nonfatal myocardial infarction, the need for coronary revascularization, and new diagnosis of peripheral vascular disease or admission for a procedure for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease. Seven out of 353 Chantix patients had a nonfatal heart attack, versus 3 out of 350 of the placebo patients.

The new label warning also includes information about the potential effects of Chantix on COPD patients. This information is based on findings from a clinical trial of 460 patients with mild to moderate COPD who were randomly given either Chantix or placebo for 12 weeks and then monitored for 40 weeks.

According to the FDA, the adverse events reported in this trial underscored some of those that were found in studies conducted for Chantix’s initial approval in 2006, but no new concerns were identified.

It should be noted that the new required warnings do not reflect the results of a larger, more recent study that monitored the cardiovascular health of 8,000 Chantix patients in a series of 14 smaller clinical trials. The New York Times reported the results of this study, which was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. It revealed that 52 smokers in the Chantix groups suffered a heart attack, stroke, or other serious cardiovascular event while just 27 smokers taking placebo experienced the same cardiovascular problems.

In the real world, this means that “doctors could expect to get one extra cardiac event associated with Chantix for every 28 smokers they treated with the drug,” the New York Times reported.

Despite the new warnings and mounting evidence that the dangers of Chantix have been greatly understated, the FDA continues to allow the drug a place on the market. According to the agency, “Smoking is an independent and major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and smoking cessation is of particular importance in this patient population. The known benefits of Chantix should be weighed against its potential risks when deciding to use the drug in smokers with cardiovascular disease.”

Additional sources:

http://www.ismp.org/quarterwatch/2010Q2.pdf

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/Smoking/27711

SOURCE: Chantix Recall › FDA expands Chantix warnings to include increased heart risks

The new study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, included the results of 14 random, blinded clinical trials that monitored cardiovascular health in more than 8,000 patients taking either Chantix or a placebo. Collectively, the trials found that 52 smokers in the Chantix groups suffered a heart attack, stroke, or other serious cardiovascular event while just 27 smokers taking placebo experienced the same cardiovascular problems. According to the New York Times, the “weighted, relative difference” between the two groups was 72 percent.

In the real world, the findings of these two latest Chantix studies mean that “doctors could expect to get one extra cardiac event associated with Chantix for every 28 smokers they treated with the drug,” the New York Times reported.

“We have known for many years that Chantix is one of the most harmful prescription drugs on the U.S. market, based on the number of serious adverse effects reported to the F.D.A.,” said Dr. Curt D. Furberg, a Wake Forest professor of medicine and senior author of the new report. “It causes loss of consciousness, visual disturbances, suicides, violence, depression and worsening of diabetes. To this list we now can add serious cardiovascular events.”

Dr. Furberg said that there were safer ways for smokers to quit and called for Chantix to be removed from the market.

“It piles up,” Dr. Furberg told the New York Times. “I don’t see how the F.D.A. can leave Chantix on the market.”

The study’s lead author, Dr. Sonal Singh, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, said that since Chantix gained market approval in 2006, both Pfizer and the FDA have ignored signs that it might be linked to increased cardiovascular risks.

“The F.D.A. should have already put it on their warning label,” Dr. Singh said. “The risk is substantial, the risk is present in smokers without heart disease, and Pfizer knew about this for five years.”

“This would have raised a red flag for us if the flag hadn’t already been flying,” Dr. Celia Winchell, a leader in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research told the New York Times. However, short of a recall, the new findings are likely to have little impact on the FDA’s treatment of Chanitx because the drug already carries the agency’s strongest black-box warnings.

Since its debut, Chantix has been prescribed to 13 million people. Last year, the drug earned Pfizer $775 million in sales.

SOURCE: Chantix Recall › Chantix significantly increases cardiovascular risks, according to another new study

The FDA said that a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 700 smokers were given Chantix or a placebo. All of the participating smokers had been previously diagnosed with heart disease. Although results found the risks to be relatively small, after 12 weeks more than twice as many Chantix patients suffered heart-related problems than the placebo patients. Seven out of 353 Chantix patients had a nonfatal heart attack, versus 3 out of 350 of the placebo patients.

Other adverse events reported to be more frequent in the Chantix group included angina pectoris, nonfatal myocardial infarction, need for coronary revascularization, and new diagnosis of peripheral vascular disease or admission for a procedure for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease.

The FDA advises that patients taking Chantix should check with their doctor if they have new or worsening symptoms of heart disease, such as difficulty breathing, chest pain or pain while walking.

Shortly after Chantix first became available in the U.S. in 2006, patients began reporting negative side effects to the FDA, most notably for suicidal thoughts and actions. In 2009, the FDA required Chantix to carry a black box warning, the agency’s strongest warning, because of persistent complaints about depression, violent mood swings, vivid dreams and nightmares, and suicidal behaviors.

Source:

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm259469.htm

http://www.chantix-legal.com/news/2009/07/01/fda-now-requiring-stronger-warnings-on-chantix-labels/

http://www.chantix-legal.com/news/2011/05/31/chantix-suicides-and-violence-much-more-common-newly-found-reports-show/

SOURCE: Chantix Recall › FDA warns of new heart risks associated with Chantix

When Thomas J. Moore analyzed data collected from the FDA’s Adverse Events Reporting System (AERS), he found nearly 600 reports of serious adverse reactions, including 150 suicides, were mixed in with 26,000 records of non-serious side effects such as nausea and skin irritations. These “missing” reports, some of which go back to 2006, also include accounts of uncharacteristic aggression and hostility, violent outbursts, severe nightmares, and debilitating depression.

In an interview with MSNBC, Mr. Moore said the situation represents “a major breakdown in safety surveillance.”

Chantix has long been blamed for causing severe psychosomatic distress in people who use the drug to ease the cravings for cigarettes while trying to quit smoking. Even before the additional reports of hostilities and suicides were discovered, Chantix has topped the list of the most dangerous FDA-approved drugs.

“It’s really chilling,” Moore added. “This seems to unleash something in people. It can be violence to anything around.”

Until July 2010, the FDA received 122 reports of suicide linked to Chantix, less than the number of suicides contained in the newly discovered reports. Mr. Moore also found the 589 concealed included 102 cases of hostility and aggression, 156 cases of depression, and 56 cases of possible psychosis.

Although Pfizer willfully included these reports with those of less serious side effects, technically the pharmaceutical giant wasn’t breaking the law. The FDA’s reporting system contains two channels through which adverse reactions are reported by drug companies. The “expedited” channel is for serious and unexpected injuries that drug makers must report within 15 days. The other “periodic” channel is for less-serious and expected adverse reactions, which drug companies must report quarterly.

Believe it or not, the FDA does not require companies to submit new reports of death and serious injury in the “expedited” channel for urgent review when such adverse events are already known to exist. This provision allowed Pfizer to include the suicides, suicide attempts, depression, and violent outbursts in with the less-serious, expected adverse events where they went overlooked.

The reported serious side effects were further obscured when Pfizer combined summaries and individual case reports into a s single text file instead of logging them into the AERS system individually, which dramatically reduced the occurrence of serious side effects linked to the drug.

Just as outrageously, the FDA seems to recognize the flaws in its reporting requirements, but isn’t in a rush to fix them. According to MSNBC, “FDA officials said they are considering changing regulations to allow expedited reports of suicides and other serious problems, even if they’ve previously been identified as expected. First proposed in 2003, that change is still pending.”

U.S. doctors prescribed Chantix 3.2 million times last year to smokers trying to kick the habit. The drug has been prescribed 1.1 million times so far this year.

Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43187290/ns/health-health_care/

SOURCE: Chantix Recall › Chantix suicides and violence much more common, newly found reports show

WhyQuit reports that in surveys and scientific studies, more people were found to have successfully quit smoking long term using the cold turkey method than nicotine replacement therapies (NRT). NRT delivers smokeless nicotine to the user through chewing gum, lozenges, patches, and nasal sprays. NRT manufacturers typically tout their products as effective ways to ease nicotine withdrawal symptoms, which, in theory at least, should help smokers to quit. However, the vast majority of NRT users either resume smoking or become as addicted to expensive nicotine gum, patches, and lozenges.

Although no studies have compared cold turkey to Chantix, researchers have studied Chantix against NRT. While one study showed that Chantix appeared to be more effective than NicoDerm CQ in the short term, after a year, the success rate was statistically the same for both Chantix and NRT users. According to WhyQuit, the study forced Pfizer researchers to report that there were “no significant differences” between Chantix and NRT, but Pfizer’s ads do not mention the statistic.

If cold turkey is more effective than Chantix, and NRT is about the same, “why assume Chantix’s long list of serious use risks in exchange for little or no benefit?” WhyQuit asks.

The organization says that without support, “Chantix is probably worthless.” While counseling and support have proven their ability to drastically boost the chances of quitting permanently, Chantix has never been tested as a stand-alone smoking cessation aid. The drug is packaged with a support plan that includes a toll-free number and a web site to which consumers may turn for extra support. Pfizer hasn’t said what percent of Chantix users take advantage of the support program, but if the support seekers were subtracted from the total number of successful Chantix quitters, then the success rate would likely plummet.

Also, if Chantix were as helpful as Pfizer claims, then smoking rate in America ought to be descending. Since Chantix first appeared on the market, however, the adult smoking rate actually increased by one percent.

A third point of contention WhyQuit makes concerns the placebo studies that researchers conducted to gauge the effectiveness of Chantix. “Use of placebo controls in drug addiction studies is license to steal,” WhyQuit says, asserting that test subjects who experience severe withdrawal symptoms certainly know that they’ve been given a placebo rather than a drug that is supposed to mitigate those symptoms. Such studies allow Pfizer to exaggerate the efficacy of Chantix.

Fourthly, WhyQuit calls Pfizer out on its ads displaying people who claim, “I honestly love smoking,” saying that the ads mess with the drug-addicted brains of smokers. Pfizer adds appeal to Chantix by telling consumers that they may continue to smoke through the first week of treatment.

“It isn’t that we loved smoking but that we didn’t like what happened when we didn’t smoke,” WhyQuit claims.

“Drug addiction is about living a lie,” WhyQuit says. A dopamine reward pathway that convinces the addict that “nicotine use defines who they are, gives them their edge, helps them cope and that life without smoked nicotine would be horrible. Pfizer knows this and is now playing upon it.”

Finally, WhyQuit asserts that “what Pfizer will never teach smokers is that cold turkey accounts for far more long-term success stories each year than all other quitting methods combined.” After 3 days of nicotine abstinence, physical withdrawal symptoms dissipate and the brain works to heal its receptors. Counseling and support help cold turkey quitters with the emotional and psychological aspects of quitting smoking.

SOURCE: Chantix Recall › Support group says Chantix ads conceal important information

Chantix

“If Chantix has been studied and has been found to have likely caused 98 deaths and an additional 188 attempted suicides and it is allowed to remain on the market because smoking cessation is such an important goal, then what is the point of removing e-cigarettes from the market while studying its potential adverse effects?” Dr. Siegel asked in his blog.

“Suppose e-cigarettes were to be found to have caused 100 deaths. Would that warrant taking it off the market, since it — like Chantix — is helping people to quit smoking?” he asked further.

“… unlike Chantix – for which there were many immediate post-marketing reports of potential adverse effects, e-cigarettes have been on the market for more than 3 years and there have yet to be any severe adverse effects reported,” Dr. Siegel said.

“In other words, we know that people are dying from taking Chantix but we’re going to allow it to remain on the market because it’s helping people to quit smoking. We know that there is no evidence that anyone is dying from using electronic cigarettes, but we’re going to take them off the market, even though they are helping people to quit smoking. That just doesn’t make any sense,” Dr. Siegel said.

Dr. Siegel also blames the pharmaceutical industry’s massive power to influence opinion, whether it’s a position taken by a consumer group, an erroneous statement made by a nonprofit organization, or the public opinion in general.

He notes that some anti-smoking groups are calling on the FDA to withdraw e-cigarettes from the market despite a lack of evidence suggesting they are harmful, yet the same groups do not advocate for the removal of Chantix, even though the drug tops the FDA’s list of most dangerous drugs.

“So far, every anti-smoking group which has called for the removal of e-cigarettes from the market has been found to be financially tied to Big Pharma. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and Action on Smoking and Health have all received funding of some sort from the pharmaceutical industry,” Dr. Siegel said.

SOURCE: Chantix Recall › FDA favors Chantix over e-cigarettes. Why?

Carter, who played keyboard and guitar for Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians, was shot and killed by his girlfriend’s neighbor in the predawn hours of September 3, 2007. According to Ryann Rathbone, Albrecht’s girlfriend at the time, the two had spent the evening at a Dallas bar before going back to Rathbone’s home, where they both took their Chantix doses. Shortly afterward, Albrecht began speaking incoherently and acting violently, hitting Rathbone several times.

Rathbone ran out of the house and Albrecht pursued her. She then ran back into the house, closed the door, and locked Albrecht outside, whereupon he began pounding on the door and yelling. He then entered the neighbor’s backyard and began beating on his back door and shouting. Alarmed by the commotion, the neighbor fired what he said he intended to be a warning shot through the front door. The bullet hit Albrecht in the head, killing him instantly.

Both Rathbone and Albrecht’s family and acquaintances said that his behavior on that fatal night was uncharacteristic. Rathbone says that Albrecht’s behavior became increasingly erratic once he started taking Chantix. Autopsy results showed that Albrecht’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal driving limit in Texas, yet those who knew him say that his behavior on September 3 was abnormal, even after drinking heavily.

Chantix first became available by prescription in 2006. Awareness of the drug’s potential to cause negative neuropsychiatric events was not well documented at the time of Albrecht’s death. Just a couple of weeks after the deadly incident, a CBS affiliate in Dallas ran a story about Albrecht’s strange behavior called Chantix: Miracle Drug or Dangerous Problem? Two months later, the Food and Drug Adminstration issued an early communication about an ongoing safety review of Chantix, alerting the public that Chantix may be linked to changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts and actions, and other side effects.

SOURCE: Chantix Recall › Family of musician killed in Chantix rage sues Pfizer

Subsequent attempts to quit involved Zyban, nicotine gum, nicotine patches, nicotine lozenges, various herbal “de-tox” remedies, and Chantix. I even bought this little gadget that punched holes in my cigarettes, allowing most of the smoke to escape through the filter. As ingenious as that device seemed to me, it was as frustrating as trying to drink with a broken straw. After a minute of sucking air, I simply got another straw that wasn’t broken.

Eventually, the only method I had left to try was the primitive, old-fashioned cold turkey method. Had electronic cigarettes been around when I was trying to quit, I assure you, I would have bought them.

The idea of an alternative cigarette is so appealing that many smokers probably have conceived of a fake cigarette at some point in their lives. I remember sitting on a long, trans-Pacific flight, experiencing the first withdrawal pangs from all the cigarettes I chainsmoked in LAX hours before, when the idea of inventing a fake “traveling” cigarette came to mind – basically just a flameproof, smokeless dummy that smelled and tasted like a real cigarette … an adult pacifier of sorts. But that was just pure fantasy to me.

Electronic cigarettes are like those fantasy cigarettes, only better. They are battery powered cylinders with chemically loaded cartridges that deliver vaporous nicotine and other substances. In other words, they simulate real cigarettes like nothing else on the market.

Unfortunately, new studies reveal that these e-cigarettes are not without their own dangers. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved them for use and therefore does not regulate them. However, the FDA has conducted lab analyses and says that e-cigarettes contain toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol (an ingredient used in antifreeze) and other toxic and carcinogenic substances.

In fact, the agency is asking the public to report any adverse events or product quality problems associated with the use of e-cigarettes to the FDA’s Medwatch Adverse Event Reporting Program.

Perhaps smoking substitutes are destined to be like so many of the substitutes for sugar, salt, and fat – marginally satisfying replacements that eventually prove to have negative side effects and health risks that are just as bad or worse than the real thing. The FDA’s e-cigarette advisory should remind smokers that, like Chantix, not all smoking cessation methods and replacement therapies are safe and risk-free.

SOURCE: Chantix Recall › Are e-cigarettes too good to be true?