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Stop-Smoking Drug May Also Curb Problem Drinking
Posted 15 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 15 – The quit-smoking drug Chantix may also help problem drinkers cut their alcohol consumption, a small new study suggests. Exactly how this drug curbs drinking is not fully understood, but its use may increase blood pressure, heart rate and feelings of sadness and nausea, thereby blunting the pleasurable effects of alcohol, the researchers said. "Chantix might reduce alcohol consumption by reducing overall enjoyment of the alcohol drinking experience," said study author Emma Childs, a research associate at the University of Chicago. "Chantix increased the unpleasant effects of alcohol, for example feeling drowsy and irritable, [and] participants also reported that they didn't like the alcohol effects as much," Childs said. Approved to help smokers quit in 2006, Chantix (varenicline) has its share of potential side effects. In July 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug ... Read more
Related support groups: Chantix, Alcohol Dependence, Alcoholism, Varenicline, Champix
Patches, Counseling, Persistence Can Help Smokers Quit
Posted 28 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Nov. 28 – Quitting smoking isn't easy for most people but medication and counseling can help them succeed, according to the results of two new studies. In the first of the two reports published in the Nov. 28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, a team led by Dr. Anne Joseph, co-leader of the Prevention & Etiology Research Program at the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota, tried helping people by keeping in touch with them and reminding them to quit smoking. "We looked at a model that treated smoking as a chronic condition like high blood pressure or diabetes," Joseph said. "We know that using a combination of behavioral therapy and medication therapy, people do better than quitting on their own," she said. For the study, more than 400 smokers received counseling over the phone along with nicotine replacement therapy (such as patches, gums, lozenges) ... Read more
Related support groups: Wellbutrin, Smoking, Chantix, Bupropion, Wellbutrin XL, Wellbutrin SR, Smoking Cessation, Nicotine, Zyban, Nicorette, Nicoderm CQ, Budeprion, Nicotrol Inhaler, Commit, Budeprion XL
Smokeout Day: The Best Ways to Quit
Posted 16 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 16 – As thousands of smokers across the United States try to kick their bad habit as part of the Great American Smokeout on Thursday, experts agree that a two-pronged strategy is the best bet for success. "The U.S. Public Health Service has twice done very extensive reviews of all the evidence, and [best] is a combination of counseling/advice, by pharmacists, physicians or quitlines, plus medicine," said Thomas Glynn, director of cancer science and trends and of international cancer control for the American Cancer Society. A lot has changed since 1976, when the first smokeout took place, Glynn noted. "People could smoke on airplanes and in restaurants; the person sitting next to you in the movie theater could be smoking. Two of every five people smoked; now it's one of five." Another difference: "Now, there are a number of ways that people can succeed, [including] seven ... Read more
Related support groups: Wellbutrin, Smoking, Chantix, Bupropion, Wellbutrin XL, Wellbutrin SR, Smoking Cessation, Zyban, Budeprion, Budeprion XL, Aplenzin, Varenicline, Zyban Advantage Pack, Champix, Budeprion SR
Chantix Unsuitable for First-Line Smoking Cessation Use
Posted 3 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Nov. 2, 2011 – The poor safety profile of the smoking-cessation drug varenicline (Chantix™) makes it unsuitable for first-line use, according to a study published in the Nov. 2 edition of the journal PLoS One, an online publication of the Public Library of Science. Varenicline, which already carries a “black box warning” from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), showed a substantially increased risk of reported depression or suicidal behavior compared to other smoking-cessation treatments, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The researchers found that 90 percent of all reported suicides related to smoking- cessation drugs since 1998 implicated varenicline, even though it was on the market only four years in the near ... Read more
Related support groups: Chantix, Smoking Cessation, Varenicline, Champix
FDA Medwatch Alert: Chantix (varenicline)
Posted 27 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com
Audience: Healthcare professionals, consumers [UPDATE 10/24/2011] FDA has reviewed the results from two FDA-sponsored epidemiological studies that evaluated the risk of neuropsychiatric adverse events associated with the smoking cessation drug Chantix (varenicline). Neither study found a difference in risk of neuropsychiatric hospitalizations between Chantix and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT; e.g., NicoDerm patches). However, both studies had a number of study design limitations, including only assessing neuropsychiatric events that resulted in hospitalization, and not having a large enough sample size to detect rare adverse events (see the 10/24/2011 Drug Safety Communication below for more information). Healthcare professionals and patients should continue to follow the recommendations in the physician label and the patient Medication Guide, and to monitor for neuropsychiatric ... Read more
Related support groups: Chantix, Varenicline, Champix
Cheap Drug Helps Smokers Quit, Study Finds
Posted 28 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 28 – For people trying to quit smoking, the drug cytisine works better than a placebo, and its comparatively low cost makes it an appealing alternative to newer stop-smoking medications, researchers say. Over the course of a year, researchers found cytisine, a nicotine substitute, more effective than a placebo in helping smokers stop the habit, and the researchers said its affordability could be an advantage in poorer countries. "Many smokers can stop without help, but many are addicted and will continue until they die unless they get help," said lead researcher Robert West, from the Health Behaviour Research Center at University College London in England. "The key feature of this drug is that it is extremely cheap and so affordable by just about anyone in the world who can afford to smoke," he added. Cytisine, sold as Tabex in former socialist economy countries for ... Read more
Related support groups: Chantix, Smoking Cessation, Zyban
FDA Medwatch Alert: Chantix (varenicline): Label Change - Risk of Certain Cardiovascular Adverse Events
Posted 25 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com
[UPDATED 07/22/2011] FDA has approved an updated drug label for Chantix (varenicline) to include information about the efficacy and safety of the drug in two patient populations who may benefit greatly from giving up smoking—those with cardiovascular disease and those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The updated label now also includes alternative directions for patients to select a quit smoking date. [Posted 06/16/2011] ISSUE: FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients that the Prescribing Information for this drug product will be strengthened to inform the public that use of varenicline may be associated with a small, increased risk of certain cardiovascular adverse events in patients who have cardiovascular disease. This safety information will be added to the Warnings and Precautions section and the patient Medication Guide. BACKGROUND: FDA reviewed a ra ... Read more
Related support groups: Chantix, Varenicline, Champix
Stop-Smoking Drug Chantix Ups Risk of Heart Problems: Study
Posted 4 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, July 4 – The quit-smoking drug Chantix may increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes by as much as 72 percent in smokers who take it, even those without heart disease, researchers say. The new study comes just over a week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported a small but significant risk of heart attack and stroke among people with pre-existing heart disease using Chantix (varenicline). "All smokers who take Chantix are at risk for heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular event," said study author Dr. Sonal Singh, an assistant professor of general internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. The findings, published July 4 in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal), are based on a review of 14 studies involving more than 8,200 smokers or users of smokeless tobacco, most of whom had no evidence of heart disease. ... Read more
Related support groups: Smoking, Chantix, Smoking Cessation
FDA Medwatch Alert: Chantix (varenicline): Label Change - Risk of Certain Cardiovascular Adverse Events
Posted 17 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com
[Posted 06/16/2011] ISSUE: FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients that the Prescribing Information for this drug product will be strengthened to inform the public that use of varenicline may be associated with a small, increased risk of certain cardiovascular adverse events in patients who have cardiovascular disease. This safety information will be added to the Warnings and Precautions section and the patient Medication Guide. BACKGROUND: FDA reviewed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 700 smokers with cardiovascular disease who were treated with Chantix or placebo. While cardiovascular adverse events were infrequent overall, certain events, including heart attack, were reported more frequently in patients treated with Chantix than in patients treated with placebo. The events included angina pectoris, nonfatal myocardial infarction, need for ... Read more
Related support groups: Chantix
Smoking-Cessation Drug Chantix Linked to Heart Problems
Posted 16 Jun 2011 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, June 16 – The quit-smoking drug Chantix may lead to a small but increased risk of heart problems in people with cardiovascular disease, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday. In a study of 700 smokers with cardiovascular disease who were undergoing treatment with Chantix or a placebo, researchers saw a small but "statistically significant" greater risk of chest pain, non-fatal heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems in patients taking the quit-smoking drug, the FDA said. Details of the new findings will be shared with doctors and will be included in the drug's medication guide to patients, the agency said. In July 2009, the FDA mandated that Chantix (varenicline tartrate) and a second smoking-cessation drug, Zyban, carry a "black-box" warning about the potential risks of psychiatric problems, including depression and suicidal thoughts. In its ... Read more
Related support groups: Chantix
Studies Decipher How Anti-Smoking Drugs Work
Posted 3 Jan 2011 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Jan.3 – Two drugs that help people stop smoking – bupropion and varenicline – may change the way the brain reacts to seeing someone else smoke, new studies report. And that may be how they cut cravings. Bupropion (Wellbutrin, Zyban) is prescribed around the world to help people resist smoking cues. But it has not been clear how the drug does this. Using brain scans, Christopher S. Culbertson, of the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues examined what happened in the brains of 30 smokers who took the drug or a placebo for eight weeks. The researchers gauged how much the participants craved cigarettes by asking them to respond after watching "neutral" cues that did not involve smoking or 45-second videos of actors and actresses smoking. Those who took the drug instead of the placebo reported less craving. They also showed less activity in areas of the brain ... Read more
Related support groups: Wellbutrin, Chantix, Bupropion, Wellbutrin XL, Wellbutrin SR, Smoking Cessation, Zyban, Budeprion, Budeprion XL, Aplenzin, Varenicline, Zyban Advantage Pack, Champix, Budeprion SR
Study Counters Warnings on Quit-Smoking Drug
Posted 16 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, Oct. 2 – The smoking cessation drug varenicline (Chantix) does not increase the risk for self-harm or depression, according to a new British study. In July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration mandated that the drug carry a "black-box warning" on its packaging, indicating that people who use it face increased risk for "serious neuropsychiatric symptoms," including changes in behavior, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts and behavior and attempted suicide. In the new study, British researchers analyzed database information on 80,660 men and women, ages 18 to 95, who were prescribed a smoking cessation product between September 2006 and May 2008. Prescriptions were for varenicline, the antidepressant bupropion (Zyban) or nicotine replacement products, such as a patch, inhaler, gum, tablet or lozenge. People were followed through the period of the ... Read more
Related support groups: Chantix
Anti-Smoking Drugs Get FDA 'Black-Box' Warning
Posted 1 Jul 2009 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, July 1 – Two drugs prescribed to help people quit smoking, Chantix and Zyban, will now carry "black-box" warnings on the potential risks of psychiatric problems, including depression and suicidal thoughts, U.S. health officials said Wednesday. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was mandating the black-box warnings, the strictest possible, based on reports to the agency of these side effects and on a review of clinical trials and scientific literature. "We are requiring the manufacturers of the smoking-cessation drugs Chantix and Zyban to add a new boxed warning highlighting the risk of serious mental health symptoms with use of these products," Dr. Curt Rosebraugh, director of the FDA's Office of Drug Evaluation II, said during a Wednesday teleconference. The agency's review found that some people who used Chantix (varenicline) and Zyban (bupropion) experienced ... Read more
Related support groups: Chantix, Smoking Cessation, Zyban
FDA Medwatch Alert: Varenicline (marketed as Chantix)
Posted 1 Feb 2008 by Drugs.com
[Posted 02/01/2008] FDA informed healthcare professionals and consumers of important revisions to the WARNINGS and PRECAUTIONS sections of the prescribing information for Chantix regarding serious neuropsychiatric symptoms experienced in patients taking Chantix. These symptoms include changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and attempted and completed suicide. While some patients may have experienced these types of symptoms and events as a result of nicotine withdrawal, some patients taking Chantix who experienced serious neuropsychiatric symptoms and events had not yet discontinued smoking. In most cases, neuropsychiatric symptoms developed during Chantix treatment, but in others, symptoms developed following withdrawal of Chantix therapy. See the FDA Information for Healthcare Professionals Sheet for recommendations and considerations for healthcare ... Read more
Related support groups: Smoking, Chantix, Smoking Cessation, Champix
FDA Medwatch Alert: Chantix (Varenicline)
Posted 20 Nov 2007 by Drugs.com
[Posted 11/20/2007] FDA informed healthcare professionals of reports of suicidal thoughts and aggressive and erratic behavior in patient who have taken Chantix, a smoking cessation product. There are also reports of patients experiencing drowsiness that affected their ability to drive or operate machinery. FDA is currently reviewing these cases, along with other recent reports. A preliminary assessment reveals that many of the cases reflect new-onset of depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and changes in emotion and behavior within days to weeks of initiating Chantix treatment. The role of Chantix in these cases is not clear because smoking cessation, with or without treatment, is associated with nicotine withdrawal symptoms and has also been associated with the exacerbation of underlying psychiatric illness. However, not all patients described in the cases had preexisting psychiatric ... Read more
Related support groups: Smoking, Chantix, Smoking Cessation, Champix