The free ‘Ozempic for smoking’ helped me kick my 20-cig-a-day habit after 45 years – I’ve saved £2,400 and counting

A DAD-of-five and pub DJ has finally kicked his 20-a-day cigarette habit after 45 years thanks to a pill dubbed ‘Ozempic for smoking’.

Tony Murphy, 61, from Stockport, knew he wanted to quit cigarettes for good when a coughing fit while driving left him so dizzy he needed to pull over at the side of the road.

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Tony Murphy finally quit smoking after 45 years thanks to a new pill being rolled out on the NHS[/caption]

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Tony was one of around six million smokers in the UK[/caption]

Soon afterwards he was offered a routine lung scan on the NHS which he feared would detect what every smoker dreads – cancer.

Luckily, Tony got the all-clear but his fear was enough to convince him to try to quit smoking one final time.

Doctors at the Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester prescribed him cytisine, a newly-available pill that blocks nicotine cravings, like fat jabs do for food.

Tony hasn’t had a cigarette since October last year and is believed to have saved a whopping £2,400.

He told Sun Health: “The craving just disappeared and I really didn’t want one.

“I used to wake up in the morning, put the coffee on and go for a cig while I was waiting for it.

“Then I’d take the boys to school and have a cigarette on the way back, then another one at lunchtime. It became a real routine.

“You have to take quite a lot of tablets at the start – one every three hours – so I replaced the routine by taking them at the same times that I would normally have had a cigarette.

“It worked really well. 

“It wasn’t a mental change where I started thinking smoking was disgusting, I just lost interest in it.

“I am a DJ and host quizzes in pubs so I would always go out for a cigarette during the breaks, but now I can go outside with other people who are smoking and it doesn’t bother me.”

Office for National Statistics figures show 12 per cent of adults in the UK – some six million people – smoke tobacco.

The proportion has fallen from 20 per cent in 2011, following years of health campaigns, price hikes and changing trends.

The Government and NHS are now making a big push to get Britain “smoke-free” with a prevalence of below five per cent.

New laws drawn up by Rishi Sunak’s government will come into force this year, making it illegal for anyone born after 2009 to buy tobacco.

I’m 61 now and I was coughing myself to sleep, then when I had that dizzy spell with my boys in the car I thought that was enough, it’s time to get it sorted

Tony Murphyex-smoker

Health bosses are also pushing for smokers to be prescribed powerful medications like cytisine that can break the cycle of addiction.

Cytisine, also known as cytisinicline, binds to the same brain receptors as nicotine, tricking the body into thinking it is getting a hit and preventing withdrawal symptoms.

It is a similar mechanism to GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, used for weight loss, which bind to receptors normally triggered by food, to squash the patient’s appetite and stop them from over-eating.

‘REAL GAME-CHANGER’

Beverley Bostock, an advanced nurse practitioner at Mann Cottage GP Surgery in Gloucestershire, said: “Cytisine is a real game-changer for smoking cessation.

“It has a short treatment duration compared to many other available treatments, and has a proven track record.”

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Tony said the prescription drug cytisine put an end to cravings[/caption]

Tony, who started smoking while he was at school, began a 28-day course of medication in September 2024.

He initially cut down to 10 cigarettes per day before phasing them out completely.

Tobacco smoke is such a poisonous concoction of chemicals that it damages every organ. The worst horrors I see are the end stages when the damage to the lungs has become so severe that breathlessness has disabled them

Professor Matthew Evisonlung doctor at Wythenshawe Hospital

The only side effect he experienced was insomnia that lasted for around a fortnight at the beginning.

Tony said: “I had tried several times to stop smoking but unsuccessfully.

“I’m 61 now and I was coughing myself to sleep, then when I had that dizzy spell with my boys in the car I thought that was enough, it’s time to get it sorted.

“The appointment for a CT scan really worried me.

“When you’re smoking you know people get cancer but you feel invincible and think ‘it’s not going to happen to me’.”

NHS ROLL OUT

Cytisine was recommended by NHS spending watchdog the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for the first time in February.

It means it can now be prescribed for free by a GP or NHS Stop Smoking clinic and should be offered as a first-line treatment to people who want to quit.

It has been classified as a “more likely” approach to help patients quit.

This ranks it as one of the top methods alongside vaping, nicotine replacement therapy and a similar drug called varenicline – which is similarly effective but is usually taken for 12 weeks or more, compared to four weeks for cytisine.

Professor Matthew Evison, a lung doctor at the Wythenshawe Hospital, said: “The NICE recommendation is good news and now we need to make sure that everyone who might benefit from these interventions can get them.

“The way it works is a similar concept to weight loss injections.

“The behaviours and habits become ingrained and nicotine is very addictive so when you start to withdraw it can be incredibly unpleasant.

“Cytisine starts with a high dose at the beginning and it mimics nicotine in the brain, hopefully preventing withdrawal and stopping the need to smoke.

“Every person who smokes is a victim of dependency and it will kill two out of three of them.

“The footfall of people who smoke through the NHS is phenomenal.

“Tobacco smoke is such a poisonous concoction of chemicals that it damages every organ in the body.

“The worst horrors I see are the end stages when the damage to the lungs has become so severe that breathlessness has disabled them and taken away their enjoyment of life. 

“I see cancer diagnoses and people being told there is very little that can be done, and the impact that has on people around them.

“Becoming smoke-free is very difficult but with the right treatment and support it can be done.”

‘REALITY CHECK’

Smoking is the UK’s number one cause of cancer and is linked to at least 16 different tumour types, as well as higher risks of other top killers such as heart disease, stroke and dementia.

The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training says people are three times more likely to quit cigarettes if they receive NHS help.

It was always in the back of my head that I wouldn’t be around for the grandchildren

Tony MurphyEx-smoker

Research found the 12-month success rate was three to four per cent for a solo attempt, or 9.3 per cent with medical assistance.

Tony, who lives with his three youngest sons, aged 11, 13 and 16, hopes he has said goodbye to the habit forever.

He said: “When I was faced with the reality and knew the scan could show that I had cancer it was a scary, scary moment.

“It was always in the back of my head that I wouldn’t be around for the kids or grandchildren, and I didn’t want to leave them on their own.

“The health change has been amazing – I don’t get out of breath carrying my DJ equipment up the stairs any more, I don’t cough in bed and I haven’t put on weight like people say you will.

“I’m saving about £400 a month so I bought myself an expensive watch.

“I have recommended it to other people I know and some have gone out and started it themselves.

“I’m not snobby about it and I’m not running down the street with placards, but I’m not going back to that silly habit.”

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Smoking is the UK’s number one cause of cancer[/caption]