Drug to help smokers quit 'could save 9,500 lives in next five years'

Hundreds of thousands of smokers will be given a pill proven to boost people's chances of quitting in a move NHS bosses believe will save thousands of lives.

- Denis Campbell

About 85,000 people a year in England will be offered the chance to use Varenicline, a once-a-day tablet that experts say is as effective as vapes at helping people to stop smoking.

Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, called the pill a potential gamechanger in the fight to tackle smoking and its huge harm to health. The drug helps people to quit by reducing their cravings for nicotine and ensuring that it cannot affect the brain in its usual way. It has also been found to reduce the side effects smokers can experience when they stop using tobacco, such as irritability and trouble sleeping.

NHS England will start giving Varenicline to 85,000 people a year as part of its efforts to keep driving down the number of people who smoke. A decline in smoking rates over the last 20 years means that only 11.6% of adults in England still light up - or about 6 million people.