(NaturalNews) The FDA has ordered pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline to place warning labels on their anti-smoking drugs Chantix and Zyban, respectively, warning that the drugs may increase a patient's risk of depression and suicidal thoughts.
Both drugs have also been known to lead to other mental health disturbances, including hostility, agitation, nightmares and even loss of consciousness. Concern over seizures and loss of consciousness led the Federal Aviation Administration to ban the use of
Chantix in on-duty pilots, and the U.S. military to
ban its use by flight and missile crews.
Although
the FDA is unsure what mechanism leads to the changes, a large body of evidence links them directly to the
drugs. In a number of cases,
symptoms began when a patient started taking one of the drugs, then ended almost immediately when treatment was halted.
Because neither drug contains
nicotine, the FDA has hypothesized that nicotine withdrawal might be creating some of the symptoms. However, many of the symptoms have occurred both in patients who were still
smoking while taking the drugs and those who were already quitting.
Chantix and Zyban act on the same parts of
the brain as nicotine. Zyban blocks the action of nicotine in the
brain, while Chantix partially mimics the nicotine's effects and makes the real chemical less effective.
The Chantix label already carries a warning about the
risk of psychiatric symptoms.
The
FDA reports that since the drug's approval in 2006, there have been reports of 98
suicides and 188 attempted suicides linked to the
drug.
Zyban's label, likewise, already carried a boxed warning about the increased risk of
suicidal thoughts and actions. There have been reports of 14 suicides and 17 attempted suicides linked to the drug, which contains the same active ingredient as the antidepressant Wellbutrin.
The FDA noted that no link has been found between nicotine patches and
suicide risk.
Sources for this story include:
www.cnn.com.
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