FDA Adds Label to Box Warning of Link Between Chantix and Suicide

Washington, D.CThe Food and Drug Administration recently released new regulations requiring pharmaceutical companies to place "black box" warnings on the boxes of several anti-smoking drugs due to growing links between Chantix and suicide, Reuters reports.

According to the FDA, more than five thousand reports of depression, aggression, changes in mood and suicidal behavior associated with Chantix necessitated that consumers be warned of the risks the drug carries.

The FDA emphasized, however, that the medication's benefits in helping people to quit smoking still carry weight against its detrimental side effects.

"We don't want to scare people off from trying to use the medication to stop smoking. We just want them carefully monitored," Dr. Curt Rosebraugh, head of the FDA office that oversees anti-smoking drugs, told the news source.

The FDA also highlighted its previous warning regarding links between Chantix and potential loss of consciousness, mental confusion, dizziness and muscle spasms associated with the drug, but they declined to include these side effects in the new warning label affixed to the drug's box, pointing out that these problems could also be the result of nicotine withdrawal resulting from cessation of smoking.