News Tagged ‘depression

FDA warns of new heart risks associated with Chantix

For many smokers trying to kick their addiction, the latest news about the dangers of Pfizer’s smoking-cessation drug Chantix presents as a damned if you do, damned if you don’t dilemma. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an alert yesterday, warning that use of the popular drug could lead to increased risk of heart attack and other adverse cardiovascular events.

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Chantix suicides and violence much more common, newly found reports show

A senior scientist working for the non-profit Institute for Safe Medicine Practices has discovered that Chantix is a much more dangerous drug than has been officially acknowledged after finding hundreds of serious adverse reactions were reported to the FDA by manufacturer Pfizer Inc. through improper channels.

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Support group says Chantix ads conceal important information

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.

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“very low nicotine” cigarettes may become sound alternative to Chantix

tobacco 100x100It’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.

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Family of musician killed in Chantix rage sues Pfizer

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.

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FDA approves stronger, expanded warnings on Chantix labeling

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 and Zyban (bupropion hydrochloride). All of the drugs have been linked to serious behavioral changes and other symptoms.

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Note to Chantix flunkees: there’s still hope even after the magic pill fails

smokes 100x100“It’s my mind-set this time,” Eric Wolbert told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “This time I’m going into it celebrating that I’m quitting rather than worrying about not being able to and how hard it was.”

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Pfizer might fund study of Chantix and reduced risk of heart attack

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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Pfizer and other drug companies fund medical courses

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently published a comprehensive report that exposes a very questionable relationship between the University of Wisconsin-Madison college of medicine and the drug industry. Using the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an example, the report describes how pharmaceutical companies have infiltrated the nation’s universities by funding physician education courses. Critics argue that the arrangement is unethical; when a college accepts hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in funds for such classes, the patrons expect something back. So what might appear superficially as a philanthropic gesture is actually an arrangement with lots of strings attached — an arrangement, critics say, that amounts to huge conflicts of interest.

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Chantix sales fall, Pfizer fires ad agency

It looks like there is another ominous blip in the Chantix radar. Pfizer decided to ditch the ad agency it has been using for its Chantix advertisements. The announcement comes after the company announced the smoking cessation drug’s fourth quarter earnings, which fell 36 percent from the same time last year to $180 million.

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