As the NHS outlines its strategy to help smokers quit using Varenicline, a new nicotine-free pill designed to help people curb the addiction, we ask would you take a 'stop smoking pill'?

A daily pill designed to help people give up smoking will soon be rolled out on the NHS as experts hope it could prevent thousands of smoking-related deaths a year. Called Varenicline, the pill tackles nicotine cravings while also combatting withdrawal symptoms like irritability and sleeping issues.

The new drug will help thousands of smokers to quit and could save the NHS millions, but what can patients expect from it?

The NHS will start offering an "improved" stop smoking pill to tens of thousands of people in England who want to quit cigarettes. Varenicline, a daily tablet given over a few months, is as effective as vapes and more effective than nicotine replacement gum or patches,

A once-a-day pill that could help tens of thousands of people give up cigarettes and prevent thousands of smoking-related deaths each year will be rolled out on the health service, health officials in the UK say.

NHS England states that the tablet is as effective as vapes in helping people stop smoking, and even better than nicotine-replacement gum or patches. Around a quarter of those taking varenicline in tandem with behavioural support stop smoking for at least six months, the health service said.

Varenicline is a pill that has to be taken daily to help you stop smoking. It helps to reduce nicotine cravings and the urge to smoke again by stimulating the receptor in your brain that nicotine normally would. It blocks those receptors so nicotine can't bind to them, according to Lloyds Pharmacy.

Other smoking cessation treatments offered by the NHS include nicotine replacement therapies such as nicotine patches or gum and a drug called Bupropion (marketed under the brand name Zyban), an antidepressant that was found to help reduce peoples’ cravings.

In a statement on their website, the health service explained that the drug, named Varenicline, has been shown to work as well as vapes to help people stop smoking, and is a more effective aid than nicotine-replacement gum or patches. It will be offered to tens of thousands of smokers in England as another option to help them quit the addiction.

A new pill could be a "game-changer" for thousands of smokers in England aiming to quit. NHS England has announced that varenicline, a daily pill, may be more effective than nicotine patches or gum and as effective as vaping in reducing cravings and the effects of nicotine addiction.