NHS to provide anti-smoking pill

A pill to help smokers kick the habit could soon be available on the NHS.

Varenicline, sold under the name Champix, has been given draft approval by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) as an option for smokers who have told their doctor they want to quit smoking.

reducing both the craving for smoking and the withdrawal symptoms associated with stopping.

Nice recommends that it is prescribed as part of a programme of cessation support. Final guidance is expected in July, subject to any appeals, coinciding with the ban on smoking in public places in England.

Pfizer, Champix's manufacturers, anticipates that the cost for the drug to be implemented in England and Wales would be £2 million in 2007, rising to £5 million in 2011.

The annual cost to the NHS for treating patients with smoking related disease is about £1.5 billion.

A spokesperson for Nice said that after looking at the evidence Champix 'appears to be a good way to help people who want to quit smoking'.

'Varenicline should normally be provided in conjunction with counselling and support, but if such support is not available, this should not stop smokers receiving treatment with varenicline,' the spokesperson added.

David Hugh Geldard, president of Heart Care Partnership, told Nice: 'Smokers who wish to quit are aware that their habit is dangerous, if one could place a magic wand on their shoulder and they could stop they would take it.

'We have no magic wand, and none of this is cheap, but the evidence is clear that interventions with a cost are still far cheaper than continued smoking.'

Christine Owens, head of tobacco control at the Roy Castle Lung Foundation, added that Campix is not a 'magic bullet' and 'it is important that patients understand that they need and that they can access appropriate behavioural support along with the technology'.

Source : news.monstersandcritics.com