Pharmacoeconomic considerations in the management of smoking cessation

Smokers are more likely to develop a variety of serious diseases than non-smokers; the morbidity and mortality from these diseases place a great resource burden on society in respect of demands on healthcare resources and lost productivity. The cost to the healthcare system of treating the consequences of smoking is high. Given the availability of inexpensive pharmaceutical therapies such as sustained-release bupropion (bupropion SR) and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), which are proven to be effective, there is economic advantage for governments and the medical profession in encouraging patients to quit. The cost effectiveness of effective smoking cessation support is far superior to that of many other potentially life-saving interventions and, indeed, the UK National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) stated in April 2002 that "both bupropion and NRT are considered to be amongst the most effective of all healthcare interventions". Recent economic analyses have confirmed that the use of bupropion SR as an aid to smoking cessation is a highly cost-effective intervention.