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E-cigarettes may soon be prescribed on the NHS to help smokers quit under radical plans by ministers to slash smoking rates in England.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published updated guidance that paves the way for medicinally licensed e-cigarette products to be prescribed for tobacco smokers who want to stop smoking and switch to vaping instead.
The move could see England become the first country in the world to prescribe medicinally licensed e-cigarettes. Almost 64,000 people die from smoking every year. About 3.6 million, or 7% of adults in Britain, are thought to use e-cigarettes.
Doctors, medical leaders and health campaigners welcomed the move. “I am convinced this will be a gamechanger,” said Sir Norman Lamb, the former health minister who chaired the Commons science and technology committee’s inquiry into e-cigarettes in 2018. His committee concluded that there would be “significant benefit” to having medicinally licensed e-cigarettes that could be prescribed, he said.
www.theguardian.com
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has published updated guidance that paves the way for medicinally licensed e-cigarette products to be prescribed for tobacco smokers who want to stop smoking and switch to vaping instead.
The move could see England become the first country in the world to prescribe medicinally licensed e-cigarettes. Almost 64,000 people die from smoking every year. About 3.6 million, or 7% of adults in Britain, are thought to use e-cigarettes.
Doctors, medical leaders and health campaigners welcomed the move. “I am convinced this will be a gamechanger,” said Sir Norman Lamb, the former health minister who chaired the Commons science and technology committee’s inquiry into e-cigarettes in 2018. His committee concluded that there would be “significant benefit” to having medicinally licensed e-cigarettes that could be prescribed, he said.
Regulator paves way for NHS e-cigarette prescriptions in England
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency updates guidance under government plans to cut smoking rates
www.theguardian.com