UK
Doctors will soon be able to hand out e-cigarettes to smokers who want to quit. They will be prescribed on the NHS for the first time in the coming year, but UK ministers are said to have tried to keep the move quiet over fears that doctors would be overrun by people demanding them.
Public health minister Jane Ellison is said to have hoped that the government could keep the news under wraps until the e-cigarettes are available via prescription in 2016. Ellison had to reveal details of the e-cigarette plan after being asked a direct question by a member of parliament. She told him that the government believed “vaping” was “significantly less harmful than smoking” and added that medicinal license applications were “encouraged”.
According to Public Health England (PHE)At least 76,000 lives could be saved every year if all smokers switched to electronic cigarettes. At least 2.6 million people are believed to use e-cigarettes, assessed as 95% safer than tobacco, and almost half are ex-smokers. Making e-cigarettes available on the NHS is also expected to bring long-term health budget savings, and the move has even been welcomed by the anti-tobacco group ASH.
The move followed last month’s decision by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to license British American Tobacco’s e-Voke. Cartridges used in the rechargeable devices contain pharmaceutical grade nicotine, according to British American Tobacco. Up until now doctors have been unable to recommend the devices because they were not properly licensed, unlike other nicotine replacement therapies such as gum, lozenges, and patches.
Several firms are said to have already submitted licence applications to the drugs regulator.