Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration released a list of about 20 pharmaceutical drugs that the agency’s researchers are closely monitoring for potential safety concerns. Not surprisingly, Chantix (Varenicline) claimed a spot on the list. According to the FDA, the drug is being watched to determine whether it causes or contributes to angiodema (rapid and potentially life-threatening swelling of skin and tissue), other serious skin reactions, visual impairment, and accidental injury.

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By now we know that Chantix is dangerous for some people who use the drug, but mounting evidence suggests that people who don’t use it may also be harmed. Since Chantix became available for smoking cessation in August of 2006, the FDA has received a steady influx of reports connecting the drug to traffic accidents. Moreover, while the medical community and the media are focused on the negative psychiatric effects that some Chantix users experience, researchers now believe that the non-psychiatric effects may be worse.

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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.

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