On July 15, 2008, a 28-year-old man had been taking Pfizer’s smoking cessation drug Chantix for two days and was driving home with his girlfriend on a country road in Louisiana. On the way home, however, he swerved left, landing in a bayou. His girlfriend would later tell him that his eyes had rolled back into his head, and it seemed as if he was frozen at the wheel.

His girlfriend is still struggling with a neck injury she suffered as a result of the car accident. The man, who had no history of seizures and does not drink alcohol, said his doctor, who has treated him from childhood, made the connection between the car accident and Chantix.

He is considering filing a Chantix lawsuit against Pfizer. His lawyer said he is aware of at least one other accident being attributed to Chantix, involving a deliveryman who fell out of a moving truck.

In May 2008, the nonprofit Institute for Safe Medication Practices linked Chantix to at least two dozen highway car accidents reported to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), claiming the accidents occurred because of the drug’s side effects, like seizures.

Pfizer said it added a warning to Chantix’s labels, advising patients to exercise caution when driving or operating machinery while taking the drug until they know how the drug affects them. But doctors, and even some government transportation agencies, seem to have missed the warning.

Until mid-May 2008, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continued listing Chantix as approved for pilots. Now the FAA has banned the use of it for pilots and air traffic controllers. A similar chain of events occurred with the federal truck safety agency. And the military, which currently bans Chantix for flight and missile crews, is considering whether other precautions are needed.

Approved in 2006, Chantix differs from previous smoking cessation drugs because it acts directly on sites of the brain affected by nicotine, blocking cravings and the pleasure that comes from smoking.

Pfizer said there has been no proven direct link between Chantix and the reported problems, including suicidality, depression, seizures, and cardiac arrhythmia.

Source: Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Drug taken to stop smoking is linked to traffic mishaps,” Los Angeles Times, May 25, 2008.