The UK National Health Service is considering prescribing e-cigarettes by prescription. This was reported by the Government of the United Kingdom in a Article posted on their website.
In turn, the Regulatory Agency for Medicines and Health Products of that country (MHRA, for its acronym in English) published a guide This update is precisely intended to facilitate the granting of medical licenses to electronic cigarettes, which allow their sale to those smokers who wish to quit smoking.
Both initiatives are consistent with the Government’s express will to achieve a tobacco-free England by 2030, as nearly 64,000 people died from smoking in England in 2019, and while smoking rates are at unprecedented low levels in the United Kingdom, in England there are still around 6.1 million smokers.
Just the Secretary of Health and Social Care Sajid Javid, welcomed the licensing process for manufacturers, who will be able to approach the MHRA and register their products in the same regulatory approval process that other medicines available in the health service.
Sajid Javid also noted: “This country continues to be a world leader in healthcare, either with the launch of the covid-19 vaccine or with our innovative public health measures that reduce people’s risk of serious illness.” And it is not far from reality, since, if these initiatives are materialized, England would become the first country in the world to prescribe electronic cigarettes as a medical product.
