Pfizer Inc.’s once promising anti-smoking drug Chantix received another blow Wednesday after a nonprofit group’s report about serious physical side effects prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to ban the drug’s use by pilots and air traffic controllers.

The report, from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, points out hundreds of serious problems reported since the popular drug was approved in May 2006, including vision and heart problems, dizziness, loss of consciousness, seizures, and abnormal spasms and movements.

The federal government’s new advice to doctors for helping smokers quit recommends the drug Chantix, which has recently been linked with depression and suicidal behavior.

The new guidelines mention the psychiatric risks but also say the popular Pfizer Inc. drug is the most effective at helping people get off cigarettes. The guidelines mention other options, too, and highly recommend combining counseling and medication. But doctors are encouraged to talk to all smokers who want to quit about trying medication.

Consumer advocates cautioned that the safety picture on Chantix is incomplete because it’s a relatively new drug, on the market since 2006.

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A British television executive committed suicide two months after he started taking the smoking cessation drug Champix, which is marketed as Chantix in the United States.

Omer Jama, 39, of Bolton, England, was a Sky Sports video editor who was taking the drug to try and kick his pack-a-day habit; it is being reported by London’s Daily Mail.

What do you think? Do you or someone you know take Chantix?