Canadian Version of Chantix Anti-Smoking Drug Prompts New Warnings
Canadian health officials have issued stronger warnings to users of the stop-smoking drug Champix about the potential for suicidal thoughts and other serious psychiatric side effects of the drug.
Champix is the brand name of the Pfizer anti-smoking drug, varenicline tartrate, which is sold in Canada and Europe. The same drug is branded as Chantix in the United States, where it has also been blamed for at least 39 deaths and 500 reports of suicidal thoughts, severe nightmares, and sudden aggressive behavior among users.
The drug is designed to block the receptors in the brain which are otherwise stimulated by nicotine and reduce the urge to smoke. Worldwide, more than five million people have taken the drug to kick their smoking habit.
Health Canada Issues Stronger Warning
The latest warning by Canadian officials about possible life-threatening side effects from Champix came in January 2009, just as smokers may be making new years’ resolutions to quit. It is just the latest round of controversy surrounding the popular stop-smoking drug.
Health Canada again reminded smokers who are taking or considering taking Champix about the possible side effects of agitation, depressed mood, hostility, changes in behavior, and impulsive or disturbing thoughts of harming themselves or others.
The agency also urged Champix users and people who know them to be on the lookout for any unusual suicidal thoughts or sudden, aggressive behavior while on the drug. Users also should avoid driving a car or operating heavy machinery until they are certain Champix does not adversely affect them, Health Canada warned.
Canadian health officials said they are currently working with Pfizer to update and strengthen Champix’s prescribing information in an effort to provide better safety information to users.
U.S. Has Warned of Chantix Dangers
Chantix, the name the same Pfizer drug is sold under in the United States, has been the target of warnings from the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies. Chantix was approved for use in the United States in May 2006 and was the first non-nicotine prescription treatment for smoking cessation released in almost 10 years. It quickly became a big money maker for Pfizer.
However, by November 2007, the FDA began reviewing dozens of reports of patient deaths and hundreds of reports of suicidal thoughts and behavior among Chantix users. The agency warned users about serious side effects from taking Chantix in February 2008.
In one high-profile case, which occurred in September 2007, Carter Albrecht, the guitarist and keyboardist for the band Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians, was shot and killed by a neighbor in a tragic incident. Albrecht, who was taking Chantix and drinking at the time, went to the neighborÕs house in the middle of the night and began pounding on doors and windows, which friends said was completely out of character for the soft-spoken musician. AlbrechtÕs friends and family later sued Pfizer over their loved one’s death, blaming Chantix for his bizarre behavior that night.
The Federal Aviation Administration has banned all of its pilots and air traffic controllers from using Chantix. An estimated 150 pilots and 30 air traffic controllers were either taking the drug or had taken it in the past.
Also, in May 2008, the Federal Motor Vehicle Carrier Safety Administration – part of the U.S. Department of Transportation that oversees busing and trucking – ruled that taking Chantix could make interstate truck and bus drivers unfit for work.
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