Chantix Violence Leaves Patients Outraged

The serious side effects of Chantix have led to its removal from the list of drugs covered by health care in France – and the United States may not be far behind. Although still available in the country, it will no longer be covered by state sponsored health insurance. Chantix, which is sold as Champix in France, has been plaguing users there with the same psychological side effects that patients in the United States have been experiencing – rage, mood swings, depression, and suicide ideation, among others.



This announcement comes just a few weeks after it was discovered that drugmaker Pfizer failed to properly report nearly 600 instances of Chantix side effects to the Food and Drug Administration, including 150 instances of Chantix suicides. Although the drug currently carries the strongest warning the Food and Drug Administration can give out, the black box warning, these new reports could change their opinion on the drug – even to the extent that it could be banned completely. The Food and Drug Administration is aware of the risk of serious injury, violence, and other psychiatric side effects of Chantix, but it was unclear before Pfizer’s correct reports were discovered to exactly what degree these side effects had an impact on patients.

Chantix was linked to a murder-suicide case that took place in May 2009 in Pennsylvania and many other cases of suicide and serious harm as well as out-of-character aggressive episodes. There are currently more than 1,200 Chantix lawsuits in various stages of the legal process at present, and countless more may join litigation in the coming months.

Chantix, despite its many side effects, also has a significant rate of success – so much so that the Food and Drug Administration rushed it through the approval process in order to get it onto the pharmaceuticals market faster. However, this decision came with consequences – mainly, clinical trials that many plaintiffs think were simply not thorough enough. Pfizer did not test the drug on patients with a history of mental illness, even though statistically these patients are more likely to be smokers and would therefore be more likely to utilize a drug like Chantix.