Chantix Lawyers' Cases Bolstered by Chantix Suicide Study

A study published in the Nov. 2, 2011 issue of PLoS One (the Public Library of Science Journal) shows that Pfizer's quit-smoking drug Chantix is eight times more likely to be linked to suicidal behavior or depression than other smoking cessation aids. This finding greatly supports the claims of Chantix suicide lawsuits. The study was done by a group of U.S. researchers from several institutions, including the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

This new study is particularly significant because it contradicts the findings of two previous FDA studies. In the FDA studies, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense studied the Chantix side effects of 26,000 people who had taken either Chantix or another quit-smoking drug. The studies compared Chantix side effects to the other medications' side effects, and concluded that there was not enough evidence to prove that Chantix caused Chantix depression or Chantix suicide. This finding was likely to hinder Chantix suicide lawsuits.

Chantix Studies and Their Findings

The new study was done differently. In this study, researchers studied 3,249 reports of depression or serious injury associated with either Chantix or GlaxoSmithKline's smoking cessation medication Zyban that were reported by the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System from 2008 to Se[tember of 2010. The researchers found that 90 percent of the suicides linked to quit-smoking medications were also linked to varenicline, Chantix's active ingredient, and that Chantix was eight times more likely to be linked to Chantix suicide or depression than other quit-smoking medications.

Specifically, the study found that 2,925 of the 3,249 reports of suicidal thoughts or depression were associated with Chantix, contrasted with only 229 reports associated with buproprion and only 92 related to nicotine replacement products.

The authors of the study are advising the FDA to change its black box warning to state that varenicline does have a greater risk of Chantix suicide or depression than other quit-smoking products.

These findings bolster the case of Chantix lawyers seeking to file Chantix suicide lawsuits on behalf of Chantix victims. A Chantix suicide lawsuit has a much greater chance of a ruling in favor of the plaintiff if the Chantix lawyer can show that medical studies have found that Chantix leads to Chantix suicide.