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Health authorities cautioned people on Thursday
against taking the anti-smoking drug varenicline because of possible
behavioral and psychiatric side effects, echoing a US warning.
The drug, manufactured by the
pharmaceutical giant Pfizer under the brand name Chantix, was
introduced in the Philippines in June 2007 under a “monitored
release scheme,” according to the Health department’s Bureau of
Food and Drugs.
“Although there has not been
any report of adverse reaction/event among local patients, [the
government] has decided to issue this warning in the best interest
of the patients and the public, in general,” said the government
agency’s director, Leticia Barbara Gutierrez.
She did not say how many people
were taking the medication in the Philippines, but those who are
should “stop taking the drug and contact their doctors” if they
notice psychological changes, such as suicidal thoughts.
Gutierrez said the US Food and
Drug Administration issued a public health advisory in May that
warned of “severe changes in mood and behavior in patients taking
Chantix.”
Joshua Ramos, deputy director of
the bureau, said it would order the product’s recall if the United
States did the same.
World Health Organization data
show 34.7 percent of adults in the Philippines are smokers, along
with 15.9 percent of youth aged between 13 and 15.
--AFP
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