FDA informed healthcare professionals and Chantix attorney Casey Flynn of reports of suicidal thoughts and aggressive and erratic behavior in patient who have taken Chantix, a smoking cessation product. If you have experienced this, please contact Casey Flynn, a Chantix attorney. There are also reports of patients experiencing drowsiness that affected their ability to drive or operate machinery. Please contact Chantix attorney Casey Flynn immediately if you have experienced this.
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 illness and not all had discontinued smoking.
Healthcare professionals should monitor patients taking Chantix for behavior and mood changes. Patients taking this product should report behavior or mood changes to their doctor and use caution when driving or operating machinery until they know how quitting smoking with Chantix may affect them.
Read the complete 2007 MedWatch safety summary including a link to the FDA Early Communication Sheet about an Ongoing Safety Review regarding this issue at:
FDA Chantix MedWatch Report
