Champix is a renowned an-anti smoking drug that was launched by Pfizer. It is a drug which aims at curing chronic smokers from the addiction of nicotine. In the US, it was sold under the brand name Chantix. This drug contained varenicline which decreases the craving for nicotine and thus curbs the pleasure of smoking. The supremacy of the efficacy of this drug against that of its competitors has been studied and it was found that champix was twice as effective as Buproprion and four times as that of placebo (Non-medicate pills).

However, there were reports that linked the use of Champix with that of psychiatric issues. Users reported that post using the drug, they were suffering from depression, mood swings and some even became suicidal.

These side effects were reported some years back during post marketing surveillance by health officials in Canada and there were reports that many patients experienced a change in their behavior post taking this drug. In severe cases some even had nightmares or became aggressive. But this compelled the doctors to ponder over these symptoms as they were the same that a person has when they try to quit smoking without medications. As per studies, a regular quitter will also show volatile behavioral pattern presenting with grumpy, bad tempered and moody behavior with significant negative outcomes. Some even showed antisocial behaviors or became severely depressed. Due to this, researchers realized that there was no scientific evidence which could link this sudden change in behavior with that of administration of Champix.

Study- comparing Champix with other anti-smoking drugs

The behavioral pattern of Champix users perplexed the scientist. Based on this, a study was conducted to evaluate the behavior of people who were administered various forms of anti smoking drugs. It was intended to evaluate the side effects and the potential risk of Champix with that of other popular drugs that helped in kicking the butt. They studied the effect of patches, inhalers, lozenges gum and Zyban which was included in the research. It included a vast population which involved more 80,600 subjects, with age group ranging from 18 to 95 years including both the sexes.

Observation

Researchers observed that all the patients went through the same withdrawal symptoms irrespective of the drugs that there were taking. The side effects of Champix mirrored that of the rest of the drugs confirming the fact that it wasn’t the cause for the change in behavior of the patient.

This does not alter the fact that there could be a possible link between change in the behavioral pattern and administration of Champix, but as per the study, there are chances that it could also be a part of the natural withdrawal symptoms which slowly disappear with time. This anti-smoking drug still remains a safe alternative to quit smoking as the efficacy is still brilliant and the pros outdo the cons. It’s more important to kick the butt than worry about temporary changes in the moods, which anyways diminish with time.

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