Champix Chantix: Legal action, class actions, suing Pfizer

*Update: If you or a loved one has suffered a bad reaction to Champix and you are based in the U.K., you can report it to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) here.  The more people do that the clearer the true picture will become.  Protect others!  Report it.*

by Chris Holmes

Several times I have been asked about the options for suing Pfizer – the manufacturer of Champix Chantix – for damages over the horrific side effects some smokers taking the drug have suffered.  Such claims are already under way.  Lawyers in the USA and Canada are offering advice on this and this is only the beginning.

I cannot give any kind of legal advice, and I will refrain from commenting on the matter too because that is not my area of expertise.  I do believe that what we are now seeing is only the tip of the iceberg though, so if you have an interest in these matters you can expect the relevant facts to be changing as time progresses.  Just a few links that you might find useful to begin with, after which I advise you to use the search engines to find out more:

http://www.docken.com/

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Three+women+file+class+action+lawsuit+over+Pfizer+quit+smoking+drug/2686782/story.html

http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/chantix-160/

http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/topics/champix/

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/07/10/widow-sues-pfizer-over-chantix-after-husbands-suicide/

http://www.furiousseasons.com/movabletype/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=1134

http://www.uslaw.com/lawsuits/Chantix+Suicide?itemid=5

http://www.topix.com/forum/health/bipolar-disorder/THQ07G6LQAHTSM8OV

Other Useful Stuff:

Central Hypnotherapy

The Drug That Never Was

11 thoughts on “Champix Chantix: Legal action, class actions, suing Pfizer”

  1. This email came in through the Contact Us facility:

    “Candis Cooke wrote:
    Hi,I just wanted to let you know that I am one of the lucky people to become a
    nonsmoker ,thanks to Chamix and my Dr says I should become a spokesperson for
    you i am telling everyone who will listen to try Champix..I tried everything
    over the last 25 yrs. without liuck un til Champix.I have been smoke free for 9
    months.I just wanted to share .
    Thank-you
    Candis”

    Well I never said it didn’t work for ANYONE. Just fails 86%.

  2. I am one of those ‘unlucky’ people whos life has been utterly ruined by Champix, and I too was smoke free for nine months, but then I started again.

    I had no history of depression or mental illness of any kind, and I had a very happy and almost charmed life. The utter despair caused by this drug left me sobbing all day every day with no apparent reason, ruined a very satisfying and rewarding career and destroyed a beautiful, loving and happy 20 year relationship. I pushed everyone and everything away, and walked away from my previously wonderful life, to hide under a metaphorical stone for two years.

    Three years on, the despair is lifting, but I feel so angry about the ruin and misery caused by this awful drug. It should be banned world-wide and Pfizer should be made to take responsibility for the consequences.

  3. Not long after being given champix my wife started feeling ill, since then she has been issued champix several times as she failed to give up smoking. Every time she was issued the drug she got the same symptoms that mimic heart disease to the point of stopping the heart. This drug has made her life hell and has damaged her heart, once you can put down to coincidence but repeated several times is a reaction to the drug. We have full medical investigation history into her health and she is undergoing further tests to establish the cause, her medical records show a healthy heart until using this drug. We are in the UK.

  4. Around March of this year I had 2 courses of Champix. When I finished the 2nd course I stopped smoking and thought wow what a brilliant product. WRONG!! In April I started to develop severe shortness of breath when exercising, something I never experienced before. After a tredmill test they confirmed severe angina and I was placed on the urgent list for a angioplasty (stent implant) procedure which was done in June. About a month later I learned that CHAMPIX is linked to heart disease, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14015089.
    I was not even a heavy smoker maybe 10 a day! Left devastated about this at aged just 39 years. There is no history of heart disease in my family, and because of continued medication I feel I am limited to what I can do. I am a chef by trade and I am certainly not the same energetic person I used to be. Couldn’t even get a taxi license. Are there any lawyers taking on cases against Pfizer for compensation for lives ruined because of this so called wonder drug? I am in Northern Ireland.

  5. My 27-year-old daughter was given Champix last year and ended up in the mental ward in Bodmin hospital for 28 days, never had any mental problems before, or depression. She was put on tablets for 8 months after coming out of the mental ward to control her mind, when she stopped taking the tablets within 2 months she is back inside Bodmin mental ward worse than before. Champix should be banned. It is a nasty mind-bending drug, a money pot for the makers… the damage it has done to my child, I am so angry

  6. I took this drug 8years ago and suffered clinical depression with suicidal ideation.
    I am still suffering with Restless Leg Syndrome and exhaustion.
    This is a filthy drug.
    I am still smoking 7 cigarettes a day because I am too frightened to try stopping.

  7. Hi My son had a really bad reaction to Champix and is still trying to get his life back together. I am wondering if there is a class action in Australia or how I can take action. Any advise will be appreciated.

    Laurel

  8. Hi Laurel,

    The best thing to do is Google it: Pfizer Class actions Australia.

    The collective power of victims is way more effective and the lawyers are all over this one now. Let us know what you find!

  9. I am so tired and depressed. Feeling out of breath am crying over thinking what if I dyed I feel I just want to give up .I have stopping taking champix now for 3 weeks as I just could not handle them I came out with spot rash and itchy on my face and felt very ill
    As I know it’s champix that has messed my head up I am trying to get my head round things and waiting for a few more weeks maybe it will pass .

  10. Took this some years ago and it screwed my emotions totally. My personality changed after 2 weeks and I was told by a phycologist to start smoking again to help reverse the affects. I have today been diagnosed with ms

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