The quit smoking drug Chantix has been associated with a few dangerous side effects such as suicide, suicidal thoughts and Stevens-Johnson syndrome — but you won’t see that in its TV commercial ads.
Pfizer, the makers of Chantix, has tried just about everything when it comes to marketing the controversial stop smoking drug. So far, no one really knows just how successful those marketing efforts have been since the overall sales of the drug have suffered greatly thanks to reports of the serious side effects. Chantix has been on the market since 2006 and almost immediately started suffering from bad press and lawsuits.
Marketing efforts started with Pfizer using its ads to tell smokers that quitting was a slow and steady process if they were going to succeed. These TV ads only lasted a couple of months back in 2007. Pfizer pulled the ads themselves amid reports of the serious side effects of the drug like depression and suicide. When Pfizer decided to revamp the same ad (that was once 90 seconds long) they added 30 more seconds to the spot and added the information about the side effects. This was probably just an effort to avoid more lawsuits.
In 2009, after the FDA issued a black box warning against Chantix for causing depression and aggressive behavior as well as issuing warnings that the drug was linked to Stevens Johnson syndrome, Pfizer changed tactics in its ads again. The now-controversial ads ignore the warnings for the drug and instead send viewers to a website, MyTimeToQuit.com. This ad didn’t even tell watchers that they were talking about Chantix because it never mentioned the drug by name. Stevens-Johnson syndrome is a rare adverse allergic reaction medications like Chantix that basically causes the body to burn from the inside out.
If you have suffered from Stevens-Johnson syndrome after taking Chantix, contact an experienced Stevens-Johnson attorney like Greg Jones for a free consultation today. I will fight hard to get you money for your pain and suffering.