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Chantix and Suicidal Thoughts

The link between Chantix and suicidal thoughts came to light in 2007. This prescription-only smoking-cessation drug was released on the U.S. market in the fall of 2006, and its sales quickly reached $100 million-plus per year. However, the reports among Chantix users of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts began surfacing soon thereafter.

Chantix Users Report Having Suicidal Thoughts
Reports to the Food and Drug Administration’s Medwatch program linking Chantix treatment and suicidal thoughts prompted the FDA to issue an Early Communication about the dangerous side effects of Chantix in 2007.

The FDA then launched an investigation into the association between Chantix, suicidal thoughts, suicidal behaviors, and other severe mood and behavior changes. In the mean time, Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company that makes Chantix, made over $880 million in worldwide sales of Chantix in 2007.

It is not yet known how Chantix could induce suicidal thoughts. Chantix helps some smokers quit, as it:

  • reduces cravings for cigarettes and other tobacco products, and
  • decreases the pleasurable effects of smoking

Dreams, Driving Ability, Suicidal Thoughts
Pfizer states that Chantix works by keeping the nicotine in tobacco products from reaching the nicotine receptors in the brain. However, even when Chantix was first introduced, its safety labeling included the information that people might have “trouble sleeping, [and] vivid, unusual, or strange dreams” while taking Chantix over the prescribed 12-week course.

However, it now looks as though Chantix has more significant side effects, including suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

The FDA’s Safety Alert about Chantix
In February 2008, the FDA issued a Safety Alert about Chantix, stating that "it appears increasingly likely that there is an association between Chantix and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms," including suicidal thoughts and attempted and completed suicide.

Learn more about the link between Chantix and suicidal thoughts ― contact a Chantix attorney today.

 

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