Chantix or Varenicline Tartrate as it is also known is a prescription medicine prescribed for smoking cessation. Chantix, unlike similar drugs in the past, does not contain nicotine. Instead of slowly lessening the nicotine levels in one’s body, Chantix attempts to reduce and ultimately eliminate cravings of those individuals taking it.

Since its FDA approval in May 2006, there have been hundreds of reports of serious psychiatric complications including agitation, suicidal behavior and/or successful suicide, depression and increased aggression levels in patients taking the drug.  These symptoms were linked but not limited to patients who suffered pre-existing mental conditions.

Pfizer, the drug manufacturer, maintains the position and opinion that the severe changes in mood and erratic behavior in Chantix users is due to the withdrawal of nicotine from the body. The FDA’s findings indicate that even those patients who had continued smoking had similar psychiatric episodes and that it is “increasingly likely that there may be an association between Chantix and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms”.

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