A little-known drug is revolutionising Stop Smoking Services in the region. Health Editor Barry Nelson reports on the rise of Champix.

HEALTH experts insist that the best possible move anyone can make to improve their health is to give up smoking. But giving up can be a long, hard struggle for smokers, particularly if they have been addicted to nicotine for most of their lives.

Step forward Ben Crentsil, 69, from High Heaton, in Newcastle, who has stopped smoking after 49 years.

The secret to Mr Crentsil’s success is a drug that he had previously not heard of, but which is now prescribed to about one in three smokers in the North-East.

Champix, which was first prescribed in the region in 2006, is often given to smokers who are heavily addicted to tobacco and have tried and failed to give up using conventional nicotine replacement therapies, such as chewing gum or patches.

NHS Stop Smoking Services in County Durham and Darlington were among the first in the UK to start prescribing Champix – ahead of approval by the drug watchdog Nice.

Since then the North-East has become one of the heaviest prescribers of Champix.

The latest figures for the North-East show that between April and September last year, 8,107 people were given Champix to help them quit.

Remarkably, 4,451 managed to give up smoking, a success rate of just under 55 per cent.

Certainly, Champix did the trick for Mr Crentsil. The retired chief engineer, who is originally from the Gold Coast, in Africa, and has travelled the world through his job, started smoking when he was 20.

The father of four, who has seven grandchildren, smoked up to 40 a day. He was shopping last March when he came across someone from his local Stop Smoking Service.

After a chat, Mr Crentsil decided to sign up.

He was prescribed Champix because of his long history of smoking, taking one in the morning and one in the evening for 13 weeks.

Nine months on, Mr Crentsil remains smokefree and is telling everyone how Champix helped him kick the habit after so many years.

He remembers when cigarettes cost one shilling and six pence – about 7p – a far cry from today’s price.

“Now cigarettes are £7 a pack, and what is it you are paying for? Bad health, that’s what.”

The drug also helped 60-year-old Hartlepool grandfather Barney Walls give up after 47 years.

Mr Walls, who was 13 when he started smoking, made a determined attempt to give up after developing circulation problems due to smoking, which were so severe he needed surgery.

He had tried to quit before, but had always failed until he was given Champix.

CHAMPIX is the first effective drug to help people give up smoking which does not contain nicotine.

Poignantly, it was invented by a scientist who, as well as being an ex-smoker, lost his father to a smoking-related illness.

It works in two ways, reducing the smoker’s craving for cigarettes by binding to nicotine receptors in the brain, reducing the symptoms of withdrawal. Crucially, it also reduces any feelings of satisfaction a smoker receives when smoking a cigarette.

It was approved for use throughout the European Union after trials which showed that 44 per cent of the group treated with Champix stopped smoking after 12 weeks, compared to 11 per cent of smokers taking a dummy pill.

It was also shown to be twice as effective as Zyban, another drug prescribed by the NHS Stop Smoking Service, the other main antismoking treatment.

Darcy Brown, health improvement lead for County Durham and Darlington Community Health Services, has been involved in NHS stop smoking services for 11 years.

He has been impressed at the impact Champix has had, particularly in cases where long-term smokers have tried and failed to give up while using other methods.

“It has taken a while for people to realise that this is a medication which can get the job done.

Used in conjunction with support from the NHS Stop Smoking Services it can make a real difference,” he said.

Patients prescribed Champix will be seen by NHS support workers every week while they are taking the pill.

“It is generally well tolerated by most people, and if there are problems we can often reduce the dose. We start them on one a day, then increase them to two a day. After a week, if they are OK, we increase the dose to one milligram twice a day,” says Mr Brown.

He says that people who have tried and failed to quit smoking in the past should be aware that the NHS now has a very useful weapon in its stop smoking arsenal.

“We look at the client’s previous history, what works for them, what doesn’t work. Some people will come to us and ask for Champix straight away because a family member or friend has recommended it.”

KERRY LYNCH, public health specialist and smoking lead for the North of Tyne NHS, believes public awareness of Champix has reduced since it was launched five years ago. “People who think they are such hardened smokers that nothing can help them should think again,” she says.

Dr Meng Khaw, acting public health director for North Tyneside Primary Care Trust, says: “Smoking is the single greatest cause of preventable illness and premature death.

“The benefits of giving up smoking are instant.

After 20 minutes blood pressure starts to fall, in 24 hours the body is free from carbon monoxide and in ten years an ex-smoker has lowered their risk of heart disease to the same level as someone who has never smoked before “Quitting smoking remains the single most important thing you can do to improve your health.”

And all the evidence shows that people are up to four times more likely to stop smoking if they get specialist help.