Nicotine replacement therapy added to WHO Model List of Essential Medicines

Essential medicines, as defined by the WHO, are "those drugs that satisfy the healthcare needs of the majority of the population; they should therefore be available at all times in adequate amounts and in appropriate dosage forms, at a price the community can afford."

According to the WHO, the list presents minimum medicine needs for a basic healthcare system, listing the most effective, safe and cost-effective medicines for priority conditions. Priority conditions are selected on the estimated future public health relevance.

The stamp of approval of different remedies allows governments, and later the private sector, to incorporate them into national pharmacies and treatment lists. NRT will now be similarly endowed.

NRT is used to aid people to quit smoking. It provides therapeutic nicotine, less than a cigarette but enough to manage cravings, until over time smokers wean themselves off their need for cigarettes.

Vanessa Sew Chung Hong, brand manager of South Africa's only nicotine replacement therapy products, Nicorette, says that this is a huge milestone for their business and in the plight against smoking. “This decision reinforces that fact that NRT is a preferred and safe treatment method in the smoking cessation category”, said Hong.

Available NRT products in South Africa are the Nicorette gums and patches and a discreet variant.

For more information regarding the 16th version of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines list go to www.who.int.