Tomorrow's SRNT Annual Meeting: Brought to You by Pfizer

Tomorrow marks the start of the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) in Philadelphia. According to the 2015 meeting program, a  major purpose of the conference is: "Through scientific exchange, integrate current research with implications for clinical practice." Specifically, a major focus of the conference is discussing recommendations for the treatment of smoking addiction, including the use of drugs such as Chantix and newer alternatives such as electronic cigarettes.In fact, there will be at least 12 presentations on the use of Chantix for smoking cessation. In addition, there will be one talk on the potential suicide risk that has been observed in post-marketing studies of Chantix users. However, that talk is based on a published paper which concludes that "there is consistent evidence that varenicline either does not cause increased suicide outcomes, or if it does, the effect is very small." That paper makes recommendations for the labeling of the drug.In addition, there will be nearly 20 presentations on electronic cigarettes.The Rest of the StoryThis would be an awesome conference if it represented an objective, unbiased, and non-conflicted view of the scientific evidence regarding the benefits and risks of Chantix as well as the evidence regarding the relative safety and effectiveness of its chief competitor: electronic cigarettes.So there's just one problem:The conference is sponsored by ...... you gue...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs