Does stop-smoking medicine increase risk of heart problems?
July 13th, 2011
In an article in USA Today, Singh noted that since one of the reasons to stop smoking it to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, the drug may increase the risk of one of the things smokers quit to avoid. He urged smokers to try to quit without using the drug. “If you can’t, there are other cheaper and safer alternatives.”
It’s not the first time the safety of Chantix, made by Pfizer and credited with $755 million in sales just last year, has been questioned. the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2009 required that Chantix begin carrying a “black box” warning about its potential for psychiatric problems — specifically, depression and suicidal thoughts.
Chantix is one of two stop-smoking aid medications provided by the Utah Department of Health to help smokers kick the habit, according to a March article in the Deseret News.
Chantix works by blocking the brain’s pleasure receptors that respond to nicotine.
Pfizer disputed Singh’s conclusions in a release. the drug manufacturer pointed out that even the study authors say the cardiovascular risk “estimates are imprecise owing to the low event rates.”
In a release it sent out earlier this week, Pfizer said that the “reliable science on varenicline, involving more than 14 clinical trials with more than 7,000 smokers, and the medicine’s approval by regulatory authorities around the world, demonstrate the importance of the medicine as an effective and appropriate treatment option for adult smokers wanting to quit. Pfizer stands behind the benefit/risk profile of Chantix.”
It said the actual difference in cardiovascular event rates reported in the analysis were “less than one-quarter of 1 percent” at 1.06 percent with the medication and 0.82 percent with placebo.
The American Heart Association is adamant about the importance of not smoking, noting that “as many as 30 percent of all coronary heart disease deaths in the United States each year are attributable to cigarette smoking.”
Does stop-smoking medicine increase risk of heart problems?
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Posted in Quit smoking now | 
Tags: Cardiovascular Disease, chantix, depression, Deseret News, Drug Administration, habit, health, Heart Problems, Medications, medicine, nicotine, Pfizer, pleasure receptors, Psychiatric Problems, Risk, smokers, Smoking Problems, Stop Smoking, Suicidal Thoughts, Usa Today, utah department
