Smokers wanting to quit welcome new treatment

The new treatment - Champix - has been approved by the UAE's Ministry Of Health & will be made available soon because of its expected effectiveness in enabling a significant number of smokers to quit their addiction to nicotine. The UAE will be the first country in the Middle East to make the medication available.

In one of the largest ever global surveys conducted of General Practitioners' (GPs) and family physicians attitudes to smoking and smoking cessation, with 2,836 physicians from 16 countries interviewed; it was found that physicians believe that smoking is the most harmful activity to affect their patients' long-term health, causing far more damage than lack of exercise, unhealthy diet, drinking alcohol and obesity.

"The approval of Champix is important, because it treats nicotine addiction in a novel and effective way. Many people feel they want to quit, or are told by their doctors that they have to quit, and this new non-nicotine treatment is specifically designed to help people stop smoking," said Dr. Bassam Mahboub, Consultant Pulmonologist-Allergy &Immunology and Head of the National Smoking Cessation Committee.

Champix aids smoking cessation by reducing the severity of the smoker's urge to smoke and alleviating many withdrawal symptoms from nicotine. Moreover, if a person smokes a cigarette while receiving treatment, the medicine has the potential to diminish the sense of satisfaction associated with smoking.

When it was launched in the US last year, it became the fastest-growing pharmaceutical launch since 2002, with more than two million patients receiving a prescription within the first 11 months. More than 86,000 patients are now getting a Champix prescription every week only in the USA.

Demand in Europe is so strong that current requests are more than 450 percent greater than initial expectations.

Smoking remains one of the major contributors to illness and early death in the region. In the Middle East, according to WHO statistics, half of adult males are smokers. With a consumption rate of 2,280 cigarettes per person per year, Kuwait ranks 19th globally in tobacco consumption, while Saudi Arabia is 23rd, at 2,130 per person. In total, the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as a whole spend US$ 800 million per year on tobacco.