Federal Stop-Smoking Guide Recommends Chantix
The new guidelines from the US Public Health Service arrive only a few months after the Chantix label was updated to reflect warnings about suicidal thoughts and behavior. Althlough the guidelines mention the psychiatric risks, they also say the Pfizer drug is the most effective at helping people get off cigarettes, the Associated Press writes.
The guidelines mention other options, and recommend combined counseling and medication, but docs are encouraged to tell smokers who want to quit about trying the pill. Consumer advocates cautioned the Chantix safety picture is incomplete because it’s only been available since 2006. “It is somewhat better than other therapies; on the other hand, it appears to have more risk,” Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen tells the AP. “That part of the risk-benefit equation is missing, and it’s changing rapidly.”
Another issue with the quit-smoking guidelines is the lead author’s past connections with Pfizer. Michael Fiore, an expert on smoking and health issues, was a consultant to Pfizer, although he says he cut those ties in 2005. Three of 24 panelists who wrote the guidelines reported “significant financial interests” in the pharmaceutical industry, including speaking fees and stock ownership, the AP writes.
Fiore’s views are shaped by his past ties to the drug industry, and those ties still pose a conflict, according to one consumer advocate. John Polito, a smoking cessation educator who runs the WhyQuit.com site advocating quitting “cold turkey,” calls the revised guidelines “a sales pitch” for pharma.


