Anti-smoking drug linked to man’s death

AN anti-smoking drug widely available in Ireland may have been a factor in the self-inflicted death of a man in Britain.

The Irish Medicines Board (IMB) has refused to withdraw the drug, which has been available on prescription here for more than a year, but has agreed that it should carry a stronger warning.

A British coroner has linked the drug, which in Europe is called Champix, to the death of a television editor who killed himself.