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Chantix® and Suicidal Thoughts

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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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