A widow claimed yesterday that a drug designed to help smokers quit may have played a role in her husband’s suicide.Father-of-two Wayne Marshall, 36, was found hanged shortly after completing a 13-week course of Champix, which it is feared may have depressive side effects.
His death is the second in the UK to be linked to the newly-licensed drug.
Mr Marshall’s widow Emma said he was prescribed the drug by his GP last August to help him quit his 20-a-day habit, but quickly went downhill, cutting himself off from his family and friends.
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When Karen McGhee woke up in a hospital bed and saw her teenage daughter looking anxiously at her, she was completely flummoxed. “My arm was bandaged and the left side of my mouth and neck felt numb, as if I had been to the dentist – but I had no idea why I was in hospital,” says the 38-year-old.
“Then Jenna told me I’d tried to kill myself. She said her nine-year-old sister, Aynslie, had found me in the middle of the night hanging from the banisters with the pelmet from the curtains tied around my neck.”
Karen listened in horror as her daughter recalled how she had turned blue through lack of oxygen, and her heart stopped five times in the ambulance on the way to hospital.
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Posted on: 04-11-2007
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Category : Champix, Smoking
Smokers get new car safety warning – What Car?
First, smokers were told they risked breaking the law if they lit up while driving – and now they’re being told not to drive if they have taken a drug designed to help them quit.
The medicines watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, issued the guidance when two patients had accidents after taking the drug Champix, which was approved for use on the NHS earlier this year.
Although the product’s packaging already warns of possible side effects of dizziness and sleepiness after taking the drug, manufacturers Pfizer has now been ordered to highlight stronger warnings since the accidents.
The drug works by reducing cravings for tobacco and lowering any enjoyment from smoking.
The new advice says patients should not drive, operate machinery or undertake any other potentially hazardous activities until it is clear how the drug affects their abilities.
Posted on: 04-11-2007
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Category : Champix, Smoking
A new smoking cessation tool is helping Canadians butt out Health-care professionals play an important role in smoking cessation.
In addition to nicotine replacement therapies, hypnotherapy, acupuncture and medications such as bupropion SR (Zyban), health-care professionals now have a new tool available to help smokers quit. Approved earlier this year, CHAMPIX is the first smoking cessation treatment to demonstrate a significant long-term relapse prevention effect. In clinical trials, people receiving a 12-week course of CHAMPIX nearly quadrupled the likelihood of quitting smoking compared with those taking placebo, and had nearly twice the likelihood of quitting than those patients taking burpropion, thus making CHAMPIX the most effective medicine created for smoking cessation to date.
It is also unique because it is not a nicotine replacement therapy and therefore, does not deliver any nicotine into the body. Instead it works by specifically targeting nicotinic receptors in the brain to reduce craving and withdrawal symptoms. No other treatment works this way.
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Posted on: 04-11-2007
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Category : Champix, Smoking
Smokers told not to drive while using Champix – Telegraph
Smokers have been warned not to drive while taking a drug designed to help them quit because it could make them sleepy or dizzy at the wheel.
The medicines watchdog issued the guidance after two patients had accidents while driving when taking the drug Champix, which was approved for use on the NHS earlier this year.
Dizziness and sleepiness are recognised side effects of the drug, made by Pfizer. There are already warnings to this effect on the patient information leaflet, but stronger warnings have been ordered since the crashes were reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Read more….Smokers told not to drive while using Champix – Telegraph
