Champix May Have Led To TV Editors Suicide

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Also Included In: Depression
Article Date: 18 Apr 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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A coroner has linked an anti-smoking drug to the death of a television editor who killed himself.

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

An inquest in Bolton was told that Mr Jama had slashed his wrists and stabbed himself in the thigh and stomach. However, the coroner, Jennifer Leeming, said she could not record a verdict of suicide and instead recorded an open verdict.

She said: "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 that was the case."

She said that she would write to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which has been monitoring Champix since it was authorised in the EU in September 2006, to register the death as an "adverse event."

Julie Evans, a forensic toxicology expert, told the inquest that traces of the drug in Mr Jama's blood did not indicate an overdose. But she said reports from the United States had recorded "suicidal" thoughts in patients.

She said: "There is a possibility he could have been influenced by the side effects of the drug."

The EMA, which licensed the drug, issued guidance on its active ingredient, varenicline, to doctors two months after Mr Jama's death last October.

It said "updated warnings" were needed to raise awareness of cases of suicide attempts reported in patients after the drug was allegedly linked to 37 US suicide cases.

Last year, the EMA received 839 reports of adverse reactions, of which 46 were linked to depression and 16 to patients claiming to have suffered suicidal thoughts.

His brother, Ali Jama, 41, said: "It is clear from the evidence of the toxicologist that Champix's influence could have played a part. I would like to see more investigation done."

A spokesman for Pfizer, the makers of Champix, said, no causal link had been established between the drug and depression.

He said: "Depression, rarely including suicidal ideation [suicidal thoughts], has been reported in patients undergoing a smoking cessation attempt. These symptoms have also been reported while quitting with varenicline. A relationship between varenicline and the reported symptoms hasn't been established but in some reports a link couldn't be excluded."

In February, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommended that the drug should be prescribed to smokers wanting to kick their habit. However, it said the full side effects of Champix were not yet known.

http://www.ash.org.uk