you may like to know there will be a programme about it on Radio 4 tomorrow evening, April 27 at 8pm, which will explore fears that the drug is linked to depression and even suicidal tendencies, and will question the manufacturer Pfizer about the drug's safety.
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jwy34
Showing posts with label Champix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Champix. Show all posts
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Friday, 13 February 2009
Over 800 complaints on quit-smoking aid reported to Health Canada
A drug commonly used to help people quit smoking is the focus of more than 800 complaints from Canadian users, many of them reporting mood swings, depression or suicidal thoughts. Of the 818 complaints about Champix (varenicline tartrate) Health Canada has received complaints on its adverse reaction database, 520 involved psychiatric problems.
Read article on the CBC News website (Canada)
Friday, 18 April 2008
Champix, the anti-smoking drug, may have led to TV editor's suicide
Champix may have led to TV editor's suicide
Telegraph article about the death of Omer Jama
Telegraph article about the death of Omer Jama
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Smokers to get drug before cancer patients do
Smokers get drug before cancer patients - Telegraph
Extract:
"A controversial drug to help smokers quit has been approved for use on the NHS at the same time as cancer sufferers and others have been denied potentially life-saving medication, it was disclosed yesterday.
Champix helps four times as many people stop smoking as those who take nothing and will be given free on the NHS.
The announcement was greeted with dismay as some patients are campaigning for access to cancer drugs, Alzheimer's medication and a treatment to prevent blindness.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) argues that helping people to quit smoking will save the NHS money in the long run because fewer will develop smoking-related diseases.
Champix, also known as varenicline, costs £163.80 for a 12-week course. Nice calculated that Champix would cost £6 million a year but treating fewer smoking-related diseases as a result would save about £11 million a year.
Joyce Robins, of Patient Concern, said: "It won't be a lot of comfort for those whose mother is deteriorating with Alzheimer's or if you are going blind. There are lots of ways to give up smoking - you can get patches from the chemist or join a club. Why does the NHS need to fund it?"
The drug, which is made by Pfizer, eases smokers' cravings and reduces the satisfaction from a cigarette."
I can't say that I regard smoking as a disease and so I don't see why the NHS should be involved in funding drugs that are claimed to help in quitting smoking. If smokers choose to spend money on cigarettes, surely they equally can choose to spend money on methods of stopping smoking...
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions
I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...
Extract:
"A controversial drug to help smokers quit has been approved for use on the NHS at the same time as cancer sufferers and others have been denied potentially life-saving medication, it was disclosed yesterday.
Champix helps four times as many people stop smoking as those who take nothing and will be given free on the NHS.
The announcement was greeted with dismay as some patients are campaigning for access to cancer drugs, Alzheimer's medication and a treatment to prevent blindness.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) argues that helping people to quit smoking will save the NHS money in the long run because fewer will develop smoking-related diseases.
Champix, also known as varenicline, costs £163.80 for a 12-week course. Nice calculated that Champix would cost £6 million a year but treating fewer smoking-related diseases as a result would save about £11 million a year.
Joyce Robins, of Patient Concern, said: "It won't be a lot of comfort for those whose mother is deteriorating with Alzheimer's or if you are going blind. There are lots of ways to give up smoking - you can get patches from the chemist or join a club. Why does the NHS need to fund it?"
The drug, which is made by Pfizer, eases smokers' cravings and reduces the satisfaction from a cigarette."
I can't say that I regard smoking as a disease and so I don't see why the NHS should be involved in funding drugs that are claimed to help in quitting smoking. If smokers choose to spend money on cigarettes, surely they equally can choose to spend money on methods of stopping smoking...
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
See Sodium in foods and Associated health conditions
I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Smokers should be prescribed a drug that triples their chances of giving up, the Government's rationing watchdog, Nice, said yesterday.
NHS to pay for £163 drug to help smokers quit - Telegraph
Extract:
"Smokers should be prescribed a drug that triples their chances of giving up, the Government's rationing watchdog said yesterday.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said the NHS should pay for twice daily doses of varenicline, sold as Champix, for those who want to quit.
The draft guidelines follow controversy over Nice's decision to reject the drugs Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl for those in the early stages of Alzheimer's. The institute ruled that at £2.50 per day per patient they were not cost-effective.
Champix costs £1.95 per patient per day. Anti-smoking campaigners welcomed Nice's provisional ruling, saying the £163.80 cost to the NHS for each 12-week course would be more than recouped from the NHS's £1.5 billion annual bill for treating diseases caused by smoking.
Others questioned why people who chose to take up smoking should receive help from the public purse to give up when Nice has turned down funding for a number of Alzheimer's and cancer drugs."
I think it would be better to make the drug available to purchase over the counter, rather than have it as a free prescription-only drug.
People who give up smoking often complain that they then gain weight. - Here is help for them. - Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extract:
"Smokers should be prescribed a drug that triples their chances of giving up, the Government's rationing watchdog said yesterday.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said the NHS should pay for twice daily doses of varenicline, sold as Champix, for those who want to quit.
The draft guidelines follow controversy over Nice's decision to reject the drugs Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl for those in the early stages of Alzheimer's. The institute ruled that at £2.50 per day per patient they were not cost-effective.
Champix costs £1.95 per patient per day. Anti-smoking campaigners welcomed Nice's provisional ruling, saying the £163.80 cost to the NHS for each 12-week course would be more than recouped from the NHS's £1.5 billion annual bill for treating diseases caused by smoking.
Others questioned why people who chose to take up smoking should receive help from the public purse to give up when Nice has turned down funding for a number of Alzheimer's and cancer drugs."
I think it would be better to make the drug available to purchase over the counter, rather than have it as a free prescription-only drug.
People who give up smoking often complain that they then gain weight. - Here is help for them. - Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
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