Drugs that help quit but increase suicide risk
As anti-smoking laws sweep across the globe, more and more people are really trying to quit. There are many aids in helping to quit smoking cigarettes, from nicotine patches to smoking cessation drugs. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) issued a safety alert on two of these drugs, namely:
- Chantix (varenicline), manufactured by Pfizer
- Zyban (bupropion), manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
The regulatory body warned that these two drugs increase the risk for mental disorder and suicide. The manufacturers of the said drugs have been asked to add a so-called black box warning to their labelling, explicitly warning against mental health events and suicide risks. A black box warning is displayed prominently on the packaging and is the highest level of safety warning on a drug.
It is not clear whether the psychiatric side effects are due to the drugs themselves or due to nicotine withdrawal which is characterized by depressive symptoms. However, some smoking cessation drugs are chemically similar to anti-depressants. Zyban, for example, is also marketed by GSK under the name of Wellbutrin for the indication of depression.
Aside from the black box warning, the two drug manufacturers are also asked to conduct clinical trials that will assess the psychiatric health of the two drugs, including how they could exacerbate already existing disorders such as schizophrenia, polar disorder, and clinical depression.
Smoking cessation drugs gained bad publicity in 2007 in Europe. As The New York Times report
Scrutiny by health officials showed the following figures:
- 98 cases of suicides and 188 cases of suicide attempts among Chantix users
- 14 cases of suicides and 17 cases of suicide attempts among Zyban users.
The US FDA safety warning gives the following guidelines:
However, the regulatory emphasized that the smoking cessation drugs offer some health benefits, too. According to Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Photo credit: stock.xchng
