U.S. Air Base halts Chantix prescriptions
Pfizer’s quit-smoking drug, Chantix, has been removed from the Yokata Air Base pharmacy due to reports of possible adverse symptoms.
Chantix is extremely popular with military personnel, and luckily those at the Yokata Air Force base are not permanently cut off— refills are only suspended until the patient receives renewed approval from his or her physician and opts to continue the medication, at which point the pharmacy will special order the drug.
Though none of the Chantix patients at Yokata have reported any problems with the drug, groups like Public Citizen and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices have been bombarding the Food and Drug Administration with detailed complaints, calling for a black-box suicide warning, the strongest safety alert the FDA can administer.
In the United States, Chantix has been linked to at least 40 suicides and 400 attempted suicides. Other issues supposedly caused by using Chantix include heart rhythm disturbances, movement disorders, glycemic problems like diabetes, and traffic accidents.
If it is true that Chantix is the cause of these adverse reports, the drug was responsible for nearly 1,000 serious injuries just in the fourth quarter of last year. This is more than any other single drug during that same time period.
People who have had an adverse reaction to this or any other drug should consider contacting an experienced Chantix attorney for professional insight.