The NHS will start offering an “improved” stop smoking pill to tens of thousands of people in England who want to quit cigarettes.
Varenicline, a daily tablet given over a few months, is as effective as vapes and more effective than nicotine replacement gum or patches, NHS England says.
The drug, which fights cravings, was available a few years ago on the NHS under the brand name Champix but was withdrawn due to some impurities. The new version has been approved as safe.
E-cigarettes, meanwhile, will “sometimes” be offered, often as a starter kit of about two weeks’ worth of vapes by local NHS stop smoking services, officials said.
Varenicline is a prescription only medicine, which means people cannot buy it over the counter at a pharmacy or supermarket and will instead need to see their GP or an NHS stop smoking service to get it.
It works by reducing cravings for nicotine and blocking 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, it has been shown to help around one in four people to stop smoking for at least six months, said NHS England.
That could help more than 85,000 people stop smoking each year, it said, and might prevent around 9,500 smoking-related deaths over the next five years, according to research by University College London.
Around one in eight adults – six million people in the UK – are smokers.
There were more than 400,000 hospital admissions in England linked to smoking last year.
Each year the NHS spends around £2.5bn on treating health issues caused by smoking – it is the leading cause of preventable illness and deaths.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The rollout of this pill can save the NHS millions of pounds, save appointments to help other patients be seen faster and save lives.”
Since e-cigarettes are not licensed as medicines, GPs are unable to prescribe vapes to people trying to quit smoking unless there is a locally agreed NHS scheme to do so.
Some local authorities do offer vapes to smokers who are looking to quit.
Guidelines recommend people try a licensed stop smoking medicine first, though vapes are a recognised smoking cessation aid.
Vaping is nowhere near as harmful as smoking cigarettes.
However, it is not entirely risk free and health experts agree people should not start vaping other than to give up smoking.
Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said access to services was variable.
She said: “Wherever a smoker lives, they should be able to access the most effective forms of treatment to help them stop.
“Improving access to varenicline will be a positive step forward to help prevent the tens of thousands of deaths caused by smoking. However, a drug alone will not transform smoking rates. Services are needed to support smokers and prescribe these products.
“The NHS has done a good job in setting up in-hospital support to help people quit smoking, which complements the services provided in the community.
“But gaps remain around the country, with services often in peril as local NHS organisations try to balance the books.”
Prof Nick Hopkinson, professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College London, said varenicline was the “most effective smoking cessation medication”.
The fact it has not been available for the last few years has been a “real problem”, he said, adding: “We know that quitting smoking is the best thing anyone who smokes can do to improve their health and the health of people around them, especially children and young people.
“People are most likely to quit successfully if they have a combination of counselling support and medication to relieve cravings and help break their tobacco dependence.”
He said people could access help online at NHS Smokefree and should ask their healthcare provider about varenicline, “especially if they have not managed to quit successfully using other medications like nicotine patches or gum in the past”.