A ban on flavored tobacco products (Flavored Cigarettes Now Illegal)

The FDA has announced a ban on flavored (fruit, candy, or clove) cigarettes. The ban, authorized by the new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, is part of a national effort by FDA to reduce smoking in America. What type of progress will our country make as our nation tries to eliminate smoking? Will we actually start seeing population health effects such as reductions in heart disease, cancer, and other diseases? (I think the answer is yes, but it will take many years before we observe a noticeable effect)  Of course, if new carcinogens enter the environment, then we may not see such a dramatic effect.

I'm so glad that smoking is now banned in many public places such as restaurants. In the past, it used to be so unpleasant to smell smoke while you were dining out. We still encounter this if you're eating somewhere that has outdoor seating, but maybe that will eventually change as well.

We may no longer need drugs like Zyban and Chantix on the market (I'm trying to be optimistic). Can you imagine a world where no one smokes?

Contrave for obesity

Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. has indicated that it's drug Contrave met its main goals in three late-stage obesity clinical trials. Contrave is a combination of two relatively common prescription drugs: bupropion (Wellbutrin or Zyban) plus naltrexone. Will Contrave be a blockbuster drug, or will it face some of the similar challenges that other anti-obesity drugs encountered? Since it's a combination of two existing drugs, maybe it will actually get approved by the FDA. Contrave may actually address the cravings associated with eating. Can you imagine a life where you no longer crave eating? Recently, I wrote about: Concept of "overweight" may be relative.

Endocrinologist Dennis D. Kim, MD, MBA, is Orexigen's senior vice president for medical affairs. You'll see his name on various press releases and other stories related to Contrave. WebMD quotes Dr. Kim saying: "Naltrexone comes in and lifts the brake on the Wellbutrin effect... So you have a synergistic effect to signal the hypothalamus to reduce food intake. Weight decrease is maintained over time." Sustained weight loss requires a healthy combination of diet and exercise so don't expect that a magic pill will automatically make your weight go away. If Contrave actually reduces cravings, then patients may actually have an easier time with their diet. Now if we could just find a pill that stimulates the desire/craving to exercise...

FDA: Boxed warning for Chantix and Zyban

FDA: Boxed Warning on Serious Mental Health Events to be Required for Chantix and Zyban

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that it is requiring manufacturers to put a Boxed Warning on the prescribing information for the smoking cessation drugs Chantix (varenicline) and Zyban (bupropion). The warning will highlight the risk of serious mental health events including changes in behavior, depressed mood, hostility, and suicidal thoughts when taking these drugs.

The FDA press release has this comment from Janet Woodcock, M.D., director, the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research: “The risk of serious adverse events while taking these products must be weighed against the significant health benefits of quitting smoking... Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States and we know these products are effective aids in helping people quit.”

Wellbutrin (another branded name of bupropion) and generic versions of bupropion will also require this warning. Chantix is marketed by Pfizer and Zyban is marketed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Before we know it, every drug out there will have a black box warning and people might simply start to ignore them. Will we soon need another form of a boxed warning?