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WhyQuit, an organization that advocates quitting smoking using the cold turkey method, recently published an article that takes Pfizer to task over its latest Chantix ads. The group claims that the pharmaceutical company’s new television commercials hide information from the viewer – information that, if known, would likely dissuade most smokers from using the drug as a smoking cessation aid.
It’s difficult for some coffee drinkers to imagine life before decaf. Pretty soon it may be difficult for some smokers to imagine life before de-nic. A New York company called 22nd Century Limited recently announced that it is making progress in its development of a very low nicotine (VLN) cigarette that uses a specially engineered and proprietary form of tobacco.
Chantix made an appearance in last week’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) when one contributor wrote that the Food and Drug Administration has acknowledged receiving nearly 100 reports of suicide and nearly 200 reports of attempted suicide likely linked to the use of Chantix. Additionally, the FDA also said it is compliling reports of Chantix patients being involved in traffic accidents.
The family of musician Carter Albrecht has filed a lawsuit in a Dallas federal court against Chantix manufacturer Pfizer Inc. Ken and Judy Albrecht allege that the drug manufacturer is responsible for the musician’s death in 2007 because it marketed Chantix, which Carter had been taking at the time of his death, while knowing it to be unsafe.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the new labeling for Chantix packaging. In July, we reported that the agency said it would require stronger warnings on all Chantix labeling, as well as packaging for other smoking cessation drugs Wellbutrin and Zyban (bupropion hydrochloride). All of the drugs have been linked to serious behavioral changes and other symptoms.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that it will require drug manufacturers to put boxed warnings on the product labeling for Chantix (varenicline) and Zyban (bupropion hydrochloride, otherwise called Wellbutrin when prescribed as an antidepressant). Both Chantix and Zyban, commonly prescribed to patients as smoking cessation aids, have been linked to serious behavioral changes and other symptoms. Agitation, hostility, depression, and suicidal thoughts and actions are possible side effects that users should be keenly aware of, the FDA warns.
CNN reports that Pfizer is thinking about launching a clinical test to determine if Chantix can help prevent smokers from having heart attacks. Considering all the negative publicity that has surrounded the drug over the last one and a half years, it’s understandable that Pfizer would want to invest a good deal of time and money in finding some benefit … even if they locate just one slightly dubious side effect, such as a reduced risk of heart attack in people who have quit smoking.
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