NICE approves Pfizer’s Champix
pharmafile | May 31, 2007 | News story | |Â Â Â
Pfizer's first-in-class smoking cessation drug Champix has received approval from NICE one month before England's smoking ban comes into effect.
Champix (varenicline) is the first new prescription smoking cessation aid in nearly a decade and has been recommended for use on the NHS for adults who have expressed a desire to quit.
Pfizer's VP of international medical affairs Jack Watters said the guidance recognised Champix's efficacy and cost-effectiveness and would encourage physicians and smokers to consider it as a new treatment option.
"The implications of this ruling are particularly timely as they come just before World No Tobacco Day, when organisations and governments around the world will work to implement smoke-free policies, which may further encourage smokers to make a quit attempt," he added.
The UK will join the ranks of European countries to ban smoking in public when new rules come into effect in England on 1 July and the government is supporting the change with a major public information campaign.
Champix received European approval in September 2006 and analysts are predicting it could reach peak year sales or more than $1 billion.
It is believed to work by reducing the severity of the smoker's urge to smoke and uses a unique mechanism of action that targets the receptor to which nicotine binds. A 12-week course costs £163.80.
"This guidance means that smokers who are serious about stopping have another choice from a good range of clinically proven treatments," said Professor Robert West, Professor of Health Psychology at University College London. "Smokers who combine treatments with the right support – for instance, from smoking cessation services – could significantly increase their odds of successfully quitting for life."
Unlike the nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products that currently dominate the smoking cessation market, Champix is non-nicotine based and works by partially stimulating and binding to the receptors that channel the habit-forming properties of nicotine.
NICE concluded Champix was superior to both NRT and GlaxoSmithKline's Zyban (bupropion) in achieving continuous abstinence.
Zyban was the first non-nicotine based smoking cessation drug when it was launched in 2000, but it failed miserably, with concerns about serious side-effects its biggest handicap. It has also now come off patent.
NICE's Expert Review Group recommended conducting research into the long-term effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions with particular reference to relapse rates after completion of treatment.
Later this year in November, the watchdog is due to publish public health programme guidance on smoking cessation services in primary care, pharmacies, local authorities and workplaces.
