Leading Online Pharmacy Accessrx.com Stops Sales of Smoking Cessation Drug Chantix

AccessRX.com, one of the Internet’s leading online pharmacies for nearly a decade, has announced that the company will at least temporarily stop filling prescriptions for smoking cessation drug Chantix.  This move is in reaction to the release of important information about Chantix by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and is the result of a joint decision by the physicians and pharmacists on AccessRX.com’s Health and Medical Advisory Board.

In November 2007, the FDA issued an Early Communication informing the public and health care providers, as well as online distributors of pharmaceuticals, that the agency was evaluating post-marketing adverse event reports on Chantix. These adverse event reports included changes in behavior, agitation, depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and actual suicidal behavior.

As the agency’s review of the adverse event reports proceeded, it began to appear increasingly likely that there could be an association between Chantix and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms and reactions. As a result, FDA requested that Pfizer, the manufacturer of Chantix, elevate the prominence of this safety information to the warnings and precautions section of the Chantix prescribing information, or labeling. In addition, FDA is working with Pfizer to finalize a medication guide for patients.

“AccessRX.com is taking this issue seriously, as we do every issue that may potentially affect the lives of our customers,” says Kyle Rao, customer service manager for AccessRX.com. “We value the health of our customers, and certainly would never want to do anything that might affect them, or their loved ones, in an adverse way. Our policy at AccessRX.com has always been to keep the health and safety of the public uppermost in our minds, which is why we have decided to stop shipping Chantix at least until more facts come to light.”

As part of its warning, the FDA has emphasized critical safety information for patients, caregivers, and health care professionals. The FDA says that Chantix may cause worsening of current psychiatric illness even if it is currently under control, or may cause an old psychiatric illness to reoccur. The FDA notes that patients with these illnesses were not included in the studies conducted for the drug’s approval.

The FDA has also stressed that health care professionals, patients, patients’ families, and caregivers should be alert to, and monitor for, changes in mood and behavior in patients treated with Chantix. Symptoms to watch for may include anxiety, nervousness, tension, depressed mood, unusual behaviors and thinking about or attempting suicide. In most cases where a complication was noted, neuropsychiatric symptoms developed during Chantix treatment, but in others, symptoms developed following withdrawal of therapy using varenicline, the active ingredient in Chantix.

Approved by the FDA in May 2006 as a smoking cessation drug, Chantix acts at sites in the brain affected by nicotine, and may help people who wish to stop smoking by providing some nicotine effects to ease withdrawal symptoms and by blocking the effects of nicotine from cigarettes if users resume the habit.

“AccessRX.xom hasn’t received any reports of our customers being impacted from using Chantix,” Rao says. “But until more facts are known, and we receive more information from the FDA and other sources, we will not be shipping the drug.”

About AccessRX.com

• AccessRX.com has been in business since 1999, and is one of the oldest and most respected online pharmacies.
• AccessRX.com is one of the few online pharmacies that performs a comprehensive cross-cross check to verify a customer’s date of birth, address, zip code, and other relevant information.
• AccessRX.com distributes only FDA-approved pharmaceuticals such as Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, Chantix, Propecia, and other leading lifestyle medications.  
• AccessRX.com is operated by a staff of caring specialists whose focus is on serving you, the customer.  Their staff is available to handle calls M-F from 6 AM to 7 PM, and Sat. from 7 AM to 5 PM.