It has been a couple of weeks now since the FDA launched their investigation into the safety of Pfizer’s smoking cessasation drug Chantix. The FDA says that they were planning to review the drug based on reports from the UK where the same drug has been sold since 2006 under the name Champix; however, the shooting death of musician Carter Albercht served as a catalyst to put safety concerns about the drug on the minds of the American public. A local Dallas news station that has been on top of the story since the shooting says the danger of the drug may be even more serious than many thought.
After airing the initial report News 8 in Dallas requested a list of complaints filed with FDA in regards to Chantix. They were stunned to receive a computer disk with 5,157 complaints, which were filed within one week of the initial report. The disk includes 55 reports of suicide, 199 cases of suicidal ideation and 417 people complained of depression. There were also hundreds of complaints of anger, aggression, amnesia, hallucination and homicidal thoughts. An FDA official confirmed that the administration is investigating 100 specific psychotic incidents.
The FDA has urged physicians to closely monitor patients taking Chantix and asked for all adverse effects of the drug to be reported to the FDA immediately after the occurrence.
For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Drugs, Medical Devices, and Implants.
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