recall alert

Pfizer Recalls All Lots of Anti-Smoking Drug Chantix Over Carcinogen Presence

Long-term ingestion of the drug can lead to a "potential increased cancer risk in humans, but there is no immediate risk to patients taking this medication"

Pfizer headquarter in NYC
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Pfizer is voluntarily recalling all lots of its anti-smoking drug Chantix due to high levels of cancer-causing agents called nitrosamines in the pills.

The recall is for all lots of 0.5 mg and 1 mg varenicline tablets, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday. Long-term ingestion of the drug can lead to a "potential increased cancer risk in humans, but there is no immediate risk to patients taking this medication."

For this reason, the FDA said on Friday that patients taking the recalled drug "should continue taking their current medicine until their pharmacist provides a replacement or their doctor prescribes a different treatment."

"The health benefits of stopping smoking outweigh the cancer risk from the nitrosamine impurity in varenicline," the FDA added.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com.

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