NBC Nightly News (7/1, story 6, 0:30, Williams) reported, “The FDA says patients taking Chantix [varenicline] and Zyban [bupropion] should be watched closely for any signs of mental illness. There have been a growing number of reports of suicide, among patients who take the drugs.” Regulators stressed, however, that the agency “is not trying to scare people away from the medicines because, as they put it, quitting is the most important thing.”
The New York Times reports that Dr. Curtis J. Rosebraugh, director of a drug evaluation office at the Food and Drug Administration, said, “Stopping smoking is a goal we should all be working towards,” adding that patients “should just be careful.” Chantix-maker Pfizer “will add a so-called black box warning” to the drug’s “packaging information.” GlaxoSmithKline, Zyban’s maker, will also “expand its existing black box warning on Wellbutrin [bupropion], citing suicidal thoughts by patients who use it for depression, to include Zyban.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that both Pfizer and Glaxo claim “there is no evidence that their drugs actually cause suicides or mood swings.”
From the American Association for Justice news release.
I agree 100% with the new warnings. I first used Zyban around 2001-2003 while in the military. Over the next 7 years I used Zyabn to quit smoking and no one, including myself, thought it caused more problems.I succeeded but relapsing but trying again maybe 4 times over 6 years with Zyban. Then in 2008 I tried Zyban again and it had NO effect on smoking but I ended up in a Phsyc ward being accused of everything from being a drug user to alcoholic or just pain “nuts” and I delibertly did not even drink one drop or use any other meds and I DO NOT DO drugs. Finally the warning came out 5 months later and now the whole 7 years of problems I had made sense. Blame the maker? You can’t, since everyone’s brain chemistry is slightly different. Blame someone? Well, blame is not the goal. It has helped many and hurt a handful. Warnings and studies are the key. I am now struggling to recover fully, repair my career and relationships although some things can never be repaired, and get my life back again. There will always be some that react differently. Even Darwinism describes how minor differences in a species causes evolution, these minor differeces are the problem. We all are different, except for identical twins at birth. Then environment makes them slightly different later.