Why the Health-Care Bill Could Be Good for Chantix


Published On: October 17th, 2009

ChantixAny time you have a great-big bill — like, say, one to make major changes to the U.S. health-insurance system — there are going to be lots of interesting nooks and crannies, with all sorts of business implications.

One example: The health care bill that passed the Senate Finance committee last week could boost sales of drugs that are supposed to help people quit smoking, such as Pfizer’s Chantix and GlaxoSmithKline’s Zyban.

As this morning’s WSJ points out, the Senate Finance bill would require Medicaid programs to pay for smoking cessation drugs. Under current law, states can choose whether or not their Medicaid programs pay for the drugs.

Cancer advocacy groups have pushed for this kind of coverage, and an American Cancer Society spokesman said the group would like to see similar mandates for Medicare and private insurance as well. And the drug industry, which cut a deal with Washington Dems earlier this year, supports the Senate Finance bill.

We noted last month that about three quarters of the states now include some smoking cessation coverage in Medicaid, but their policies vary, sometimes limiting coverage to 90 days of treatment.

Chantix has been a rocky road for Pfizer. The drug had a strong launch a few years back, but that was followed by reports of psychiatric side effects. In July, the FDA said both Chantix and Zyban would carry a boxed warning to highlight mental health risks that can include hostility and suicidal thoughts.

Photo by aprilzosia via Flickr

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Why the Health-Care Bill Could Be Good for Chantix

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Did You Know Did you know:


African American men are 50 percent more likely to suffer from prostate cancer than white men, and they are more than twice as likely as white men to die as a result of the cancer

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