A daily pill that triples the odds of quitting smoking will be offered on the NHS in a bid to save thousands of lives.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, hailed the drug as a ‘game-changer’ and a major step towards creating a ‘smoke-free generation’.
Studies show varenicline is three times more effective than a placebo at helping people kick the habit. It also works as well as vapes and better than nicotine-replacement gum or patches.
The drug reduces cravings for nicotine and blocks its effect on the brain, while also helping with withdrawal symptoms such as feeling irritable or having difficulty sleeping. When used alongside behavioural support, such as counselling, the treatment has been shown to help around one in four people to stop smoking for at least six months.
The NHS expects 85,000 smokers a year to try the drug and believes it will prevent 9,500 smoking-related deaths in the next five years.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, hailed the drug as a ‘game-changer’ and a major step towards creating a ‘smoke-free generation’
The drug reduces cravings for nicotine and blocks its effect on the brain, while also helping with withdrawal symptoms such as feeling irritable or having difficulty sleeping (file image)
Ms Pritchard will unveil details on the rollout of the drug in a speech to the NHS Providers conference in Liverpool today.
She will say: ‘This simple daily pill could be a game-changer for people who want to quit smoking and is another vital step in shifting our NHS further towards prevention. Smoking remains one of the biggest public health issues facing the NHS.’
Around six million adults in UK – one in eight – smoke and there were more than 400,000 hospital admissions in England attributed to smoking in 2022/23.
Each year the NHS spends £2.5 billion on treating health issues caused by smoking. Varenicline will be made available to patients in England through NHS Stop Smoking Services in collaboration with pharmaceutical company Teva UK, which is producing a new generic version of the treatment.
A branded version, Champix, was withdrawn in 2021 after it was found to contain elevated levels of the potentially cancer-causing compound N-nitroso-varenicline. The Medicines Health and Regulatory Authority has approved the relaunched generic product as safe.
Dr Ian Walker, of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘Around 160 cases of cancer are caused by tobacco every day in the UK, so it’s essential that action is taken to prevent people from smoking in the first place.’
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