A DECISION by North-East health bosses to start using a new drug to help smokers to quit ahead of most of the rest of the country is paying off.

Officials in County Durham and Darlington say that the recently approved drug Champix has increased the chances of quitting by 20 per cent compared to other forms of nicotine replacement.

News of the drug's success came on the three-month anniversary of the introduction of the workplace smoking ban on July 1.

New figures showed that 67 per cent of people in the North-East support the law and 72 per cent believe it will have a positive effect on public health.

A total of 99 per cent of North- East businesses are said to be compliant with the new law.

In Yorkshire and the Humber the same proportion of businesses were compliant, but more people supported the law (75 per cent) and more people believed it would improve health (79 per cent).

Stop smoking advisors in County Durham and Darlington have been inundated with requests for Champix by smokers due to word-of-mouth reports of the drug's success.

Since last December smokers in County Durham and Darlington have been able to opt for Champix. This was due to a decision to approve the drug ahead of guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

Nice did not fully approve Champix until July.

Figures released last month by the NHS showed that between April and June this year 7,310 would-be quitters received Champix and 4,932 said they had been able to quit after four weeks.

These results - before Nice endorsed Champix for general NHS use - showed that 67 per cent of smokers were able to quit using Champix.

This is a much higher proportion than the 50 per cent of successful quitters who were given nicotine replacement therapy such as patches and higher than the 55 per cent who were able to quit using an older drug called Zyban.

Darcy Brown, tobacco lead for Darlington Primary Care Trust, said: "Champix has been a real boon to the stop smoking services.

As more and more people have found it extremely good we are getting people asking for it."

Hospital worker David Ingham, 62, from Landsdowne Street, Darlington, said Champix was "marvellous" after it helped him give up his 25-a-day cigarette habit after 42 years.