has now been given the all clear by the United States FDA

Good news for Pfizer is that their smoking cessation medication Champix which has received plenty of bad press recently surrounding a possible higher risk of psychiatric problems for those people using it, has now been given the all clear by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA said that smokers who use Champix to help them quit smoking did not have a higher risk of ending up in hospital due to psychiatric problems such as depression compared to individuals who made use of nicotine patches. The FDA did say that studies had shown that Champix could be linked to depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts but that the results were not conclusive.  It should be remembered that people trying to quit smoking are often under extreme stress and this can aggravate any mental illness in itself and even cause nightmares and poor sleep in the short term.

This Champix review is important for Pfizer because the possibly overhyped reports of mental adverse effects had impacted on sales and was being used as an excuse by many smokers not to try using the drug to quit.  We have always argued at Ukmedix News that continuing to smoke and citing news reports about Champix as the reason for not quitting makes no statistical or logical health sense whatsoever.

The Food and Drug Administration specifically looked at two different studies which had compared the safety and effectiveness of Champix compared to a standard nicotine replacement therapy patch called Nicoderm. Nevertheless the FDA said that they would keep reviewing Champix and that they would carry on warning about possible psychological adverse effects.

It is estimated that around £600 million worth of Champix is sold every year by Pfizer with almost 10 million prescriptions issued since its launch. If the drug was seriously screwing up people psychological health, the evidence would surely be out there by now!

A lot of people undergo extreme stress from the quitting smoking and this is completely natural and normal. You should take time out to relax and rest and get some exercise too. Be conscious of the fact that you are under stress when you quit smoking so you can deal with it properly.