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Pfizer’s smoking cessation drug rolled out
Smokers looking to quit the habit now have one more option to try - Champix, Pfizer Ltd’s non-nicotine smoking cessation prescription drug that has just been launched in India, reports Business Line.
In the US, varenicline sells under the brandname Chantix, but in Europe it is sold under the Champix brandname. Earlier this year, the product was under the regulatory US Food and Drug Administration's scanner, when it was linked with psychiatric incidents, including suicide.
Dr Anjan Chatterjee, Medical Director, Pfizer Inc, said that the company had worked with the FDA to incorporate these concerns in the labelling. Similar concerns are addressed on Champix's product insert in Europe, as well, he said.
Smokers usually show higher inclination to psychiatric illnesses, he said. The suicide incidents came up in the post-marketing survey and not during the clinical trials, he added.
Tobacco-cessation products have not had the smoothest of runs, for example, GlaxoSmithKline 's Zyban (buproprion) too, had been linked to adverse reactions.
Pfizer, however, is confident on the benefits of the drug and representatives said that Champix in India too, will carry information on the psychiatric concerns on it's product insert, similar to the product in Europe.
Champix was developed specifically to act on reducing nicotine craving and the pleasure of smoking. Research shows that the odds of quitting smoking on Champix are twice that of buproprion and four times that of placebo, the officials said. Though no revenue projections were made on the drug, the product is being rolled out across 17 cities in the country.
