Chantix is the essence of a promising drug that has turned into a nightmare with each passing year
Smoking hot
Imagine you’re boarding an airplane. You hear the pilot’s voice over the intercom. He gives a standard welcome, then adds one detail.
He says that the aircraft you’re on is a new model. But technicians haven’t completed safety checks of the innovative technology. They’ll continue with further testing over the next few years.
That would be a good way to empty a plane, right?
Taking a newly approved drug is similar to boarding an airplane that still has safety issues. Crashing and burning is a real possibility.
Just ask thousands of Chantix users — or the loved ones they left behind.
Nightmare nation
Chantix is the notorious smoking-cessation drug. And it’s in the middle of some high drama these days.
In 2006, when I first told you about Chantix, the new drug’s list of potential side effects was pretty standard. Common problems included nausea, constipation, back pain, and hypertension.
But if you looked at this list carefully, there were hints about what was to come. Also included: anxiety, depression, emotional disorder, and changes in dreaming.
Changes in dreaming? Knowing what we know now, that must have been code for “brutal nightmares.”
Six years later, it’s come to this…
Attorneys are trying to force the CEO of Pfizer (the maker of Chantix) to appear in an Alabama courtroom next month.
You see, CEO Ian Read was a leading Pfizer executive when the company was developing Chantix. Lawyers say he had a “major responsibility” in bringing the drug to market.
In other words, they want to put him on the spot, under oath, in front of a jury, and ask… “What did you know about severe side effects, and when did you know it?”
The attorneys’ client is Billy Bledsoe. He’s a 53-year-old man who began taking Chantix in 2007. He says the drug prompted depression, anxiety, mood swings, erratic behavior, and suicidal thoughts.
Now, if you’ve been following my Chantix reports over the years, you’ll know that Bledsoe’s experience is not even close to the worst we’ve heard about Chantix.
For instance, a Vermont man using Chantix shot and killed his mother. A Pennsylvania couple who used the drug took their lives in a murder-suicide. On a cross-country flight, a Chantix user charged the cockpit, forcing an emergency landing.
These are not isolated events. More than 2,600 lawsuits in the U.S. blame Chantix for psychiatric problems, including suicide.
Pfizer attorneys note that “suicidal thoughts” was among the warnings back in 2006. But they also claim that Chantix wasn’t the cause of Bledsoe’s psychiatric problems.
That’s outrageous. It’s stupefying! Look at this warning that appears on the Chantix website today… “If you…develop suicidal thoughts or actions, anxiety, panic, aggression, anger, mania, abnormal sensations, hallucinations, paranoia, or confusion, stop taking CHANTIX.”
Riiight. So it’s just a coincidence that Bledsoe’s “erratic behavior” happened to coincide with Chantix use.
Meanwhile, the FDA says that Chantix benefits outweigh the dangers, even though only about one in five Chantix users manages to quit smoking.
Unbelievable!
I hope the judge in the Bledsoe trial orders Ian Read to testify. If that precedent is set, drug company execs might think twice about how much spin to put on the side effects and how fast to rush products to market. It’s one thing when you can hide behind your board and shareholders. It’s quite another when you have to look your victims in the eye.
Sources:
“Pfizer CEO Must Testify in Chantix Trial, Lawyer Says” Jef Feeley and Margaret Cronin Fisk, Bloomberg, 11/16/12, bloomberg.com
“Should the Pfizer CEO Testify at a Chantix Trial?” Ed Silverman, Pharmalot, 11/19/12, pharmalot.com
