Last year, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) updated their guidance on how to license electronic cigarettes as medicinal products, which has paved the way for the products to be prescribed to smokers wishing to quit.

Published in October by The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the guidance states that any approved vaping products, will be made available for doctors to prescribe. “This country continues to be a global leader on healthcare, whether it’s our Covid-19 vaccine rollout or our innovative public health measures reducing people’s risk of serious illness,” said Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBVTA) has welcomed the changes, which are mainly related to “quality standards for dose uniformity, non-clinical toxicological data requirements, and the design of the clinical pharmacokinetic studies.” The IBVTA hopes that the updates, which reflect the changes in the regulatory environment post-Brexit, will make it easier for vape businesses to apply for medicinal licensing, a standard which was previously tough to achieve.

The fact that the NHS will now be able to prescribe vaping products to smokers wishing to quit, once again puts England as a leader of the tobacco harm reduction movement. Javid believes that it is a “moral outrage” that England’s richest people are living significantly longer than their poorer counterparts due to access to harm reduction products.

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