November 5th, 2011
Researchers Say Anti-Smoking Drug Is Linked to Risk of Suicide; FDA and Drugmaker Disagree
Nov. 3, 2011 — Just over a week after federal health officials released a report finding no evidence of an increased risk of serious psychiatric problems in users of the anti-smoking drug Chantix, a new study comes to the opposite conclusion.
Investigators who were the first to link the drug to suicidal behavior and depression say the new research suggests that Chantix may be too risky to use as a first treatment for smoking cessation and should only be used when other treatments have failed.
October 30th, 2011
FDA Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) is hosting a series of webinars on federal tobacco regulations. These webinars are designed to provide FDA tobacco compliance education and information to retailers and small businesses. Each webinar includes a Q&A session to provide participants the opportunity to have their questions answered by FDA.
Sign up to receive email updates1 about this webinar series.
October 20th, 2011
STLtoday.com
ST. LOUIS • A St. Louis jury began deliberating Monday whether Missouri smokers deserve at least $700 million from tobacco giant Philip Morris for allegedly deceiving them into believing light cigarettes were safer than regular cigarettes when they weren’t.
On Monday, jurors heard closing arguments in the class action lawsuit in Circuit Court Judge Michael David’s courtroom. The trial started at the end of last month and was expected to last well into November. The trial is coming to an end in its fifth week partly because the defense put on three witnesses, fewer than what had been planned for.
October 17th, 2011
By DUFF WILSON
Five tobacco companies filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington late Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of regulations and graphic warning labels under the 2009 law that imposed federal regulation on tobacco.
The companies lost a similar complaint last year in the United States District Court in Kentucky when District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr., ruled they could be forced to put graphic images and warnings covering the top half of cigarette packages by the fall of 2012. That ruling is now pending before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
