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In September, we learned that those long Chantix ads featuring the tortoise and the hare were reappearing on TV after Pfizer yanked them from the airwaves for several months. The drug maker pulled the ads when it became evident that a link existed between Chantix, depression, and suicide. Unfortunately, the new ads were even longer than the original by 30 seconds — for a total of 90 seconds — to accommodate all the new warnings.
An investigative report aired by the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) tells the stories of two people who became suicidal after taking Chantix (marketed by Pfizer as Champix in Europe and the UK).
Chantix became available in the UK in December of 2006. Since then, nearly 400,000 prescriptions for the drug have been written.
According to The Institute for Safe Medicine Practices (ISMP), the number of drug-related adverse events and deaths reported to the Food and Drug Administration has hit a record level. Numbers pulled from the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) reveal that Heparin and Chantix are largely to blame for the upward swing.
Researchers at the Institute for Safe Medicine Practices, a nonprofit organization, and Wake Forest University say that their latest review of Chantix data justifies stepping up warnings about the drug.
More than 1,000 complications were reported in the first quarter of 2008, including 15 traffic accidents, 52 incidents of loss of consciousness and blackouts, and 50 deaths.
Reports of adverse effects among users taking Chantix were greater than any other prescription drug for the second quarter in a row.
Many medical researchers find little surprise that Chantix has been linked to higher than normal rates of depression and suicide. Varenicline (the chemical name of Pfizer’s smoking cessation drug) goes to work directly in the brain by targeting certain receptors and simulating that feeling of having already smoked – that “full” feeling smokers feel after they’ve lit up one or two. Other pharmaceuticals that go to work directly in the brain include antidepressants, some of which have also been linked to behavioral problems and suicide.
Next week, Pfizer will once again be running Chantix ads on television. Pfizer stopped running Chantix ads last year amid increasing concern over the drug’s side effects. The familiar tortoise and the hare ads will resume on Sunday, September 14, with lengthened warnings about potential side effects. The extended warnings will occupy 41 seconds of the ad, which will run for 90 seconds – 30 seconds longer than the old ads.
According to a report in today’s Stars & Stripes, a daily newspaper published for the U.S. military, Department of Defense (DoD) civilians, contractors and their families, the anti-smoking medication Chantix (varenicline) has been pulled from at least one military pharmacy following reports of serious adverse reactions.
Responding to widespread pressure from many congressmen, veteran’s organizations, and the general public, the Veterans Administration announced today that it would directly notify all of its veterans currently using Pfizer’s new smoking cessation drug Chantix. The number of veterans on Chantix is approximately 32,000.
On Monday ABC News and The Washington Times broke a report on the Veterans Administration testing Pfizer’s smoking cessation drug Chantix on 140 veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The VA administered the drug to the soldiers without warning them about months-old discoveries linking Chantix to a range of neuropsychiatric behavior and illness, including depression, loss of sleep, vivid dreams, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal actions.
According to an article published by Bloomberg news service, a recent review of voluntary adverse event reports associated with Pfizer’s stop-smoking drug Chantix reveals more than 3,000 reports of serious side effects in the U.S. alone. Among problems cited by the nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices, which conducted the study, are suicide, heart trouble and aggression.
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