Anti-smoking drug linked to man’s death

AN anti-smoking drug widely available in Ireland may have been a factor in the self-inflicted death of a man in Britain.

The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) has refused to withdraw the drug, which has been available on prescription here for more than a year, but has agreed that it should carry a stronger warning.

A British coroner has linked the drug, which in Europe is called Champix, to the death of a television editor who killed himself.

Omer Jama, aged 39, who worked for Sky Sports, was found dead at his home two months after being prescribed Champix to help him quit smoking.

Mr Jama slashed his wrists and stabbed himself in the thigh and stomach, an inquest in Bolton was told.

But coroner Jennifer Leeming said she could not record a verdict of suicide and instead recorded an open verdict.

“For me to register that he took his own life I would have to be satisfied he did the act which led to his death and he knew what he was doing. On the evidence before me, I cannot say this was the case,” she said.

The coroner is to write to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), that has been monitoring Champix since it was authorised in the EU in September 2006, to register his death as an “adverse event.”

The drug targets nicotine receptors in the brain, reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms and reduces the pleasure of smoking.

A spokesman for Pfizer, the makers of Champix, said that while no causal link had been established between the drug and depression, in some reports a link could not be excluded.

“Depression, rarely including suicidal ideation (suicidal thought), has been reported in patients undergoing smoking cessation attempts,” he said.

“These symptoms have also been reported while quitting with varenicline (trade name for Champix).

“A relationship between varenicline and the reported symptoms hasn’t been established but in some reports a link couldn’t be excluded,” he added.

The EMA ordered that the drugs come with a safety warning after Champix was linked to 37 suicides in America and two in Britain.

Champix was reviewed by the EMA at EU level last December.

The IMB participated in the review that concluded there was a need to update the drug’s product information.