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Showing posts with label Chantix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chantix. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Chantix's Suicide Risk Makes It Unsuitable As First Line Smoking Cessation Drug

By Catharine Paddock, PhD
Medical News Today

A new study finds that the smoking-cessation drug varenicline (Pfizer's Chantix) has too poor a safety profile to make it suitable for first-line use. Researchers from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, and other research centers in the US, found the drug, known as Champix outside the US, was 8 times more likely to result in reports of suicidal behavior or depression than nicotine replacement products. They report their findings in the 2 November issue of PLoS One, an online journal of the Public Library of Science.

The findings contradict those of a recent review by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that found varenicline, which already carries an FDA "black box warning", did not increase the risk of being hospitalized for psychiatric problems such as depression.

The entire story can be found here.