The Ministry of Health will fund for the first time and from next January 1, the varenicline , a drug marketed under the brand of " Champix " for quitting smoking, and with a success rate of up to 40 %.
The inter-Ministerial Commission on Prices has agreed to this Monday the funding varenicline as a support tool in programs of smoking cessation that are part of the comprehensive strategy to decrease smoking , according to have informed to Efe sources of Health.
Varenicline is a treatment for three months , managed by mouth in the form of tablets, and that it relieves the symptoms of craving of smoking and abstinence, while simultaneously resulting in a reduction of the rewarding effects of smoking, reports Ep.
according To the results of the scientific studies that led to approval, the 4 weeks of treatment the odds of quitting smoking are multiplied by two , and the eight weeks this figure is multiplied by five. Continue with the treatment until 12 weeks multiplied by 11 the odds of quitting smoking successfully.
Due to the good results that is contributing to this treatment, the department that leads in features María Luisa Carcedo has decided to fund it, though, as he has warned this weekend the minister, there is a need for prescribing physicians to provide a cognitive-behavioral therapy to the patients .
The decision to fund this drug has been welcomed by the chairman of the National Committee for Smoking Prevention (NPTC), Andrés Zamorano
Zamorano has stated that "it is a great milestone and we had a lot of time claiming " and has been convinced that thanks to this measure it is achieved to reduce the incidence rate of smoking in Spain, which now stands at 22.1 % of the population -34%, in the range of 15 to 64 years of age-.
"we're Going to get that instead of 60,000 deaths a year are a lot less", says this expert, who recalled that Spain is among the european countries with the highest prevalence of smokers.
The news has also been valued by the Spanish Society of Specialists in Smoking (SEDET), although it has expressed its disagreement in the public health only has announced the financing of one of the three therapeutic options of first choice.
According to the SEDET, in the totality of the clinical practice guidelines based on the evidence is pointing to three pharmacological treatments as first choice to help people stop smoking: varenicline, bupropion and nicotine replacement therapy in all its forms.
Date Of Update: 02 October 2019, 13:00
