OBJECTIVES: Several pharmacological therapies are available to help smokers quit. We determined utilization and effectiveness of smoking cessation therapy (SCT) in daily practice in the Netherlands. METHODS: Subjects ≥18 years with a dispensing of varenicline, bupropion, nicotine or nortriptyline between March 2007 and September 2008 were identified from the PHARMO RLS. Using an encrypted methodology, the corresponding non-person-identifiable dispensing IDs were linked to a web-based system for patient-reported data collection: ePRO-LINK. Corresponding pharmacists asked the subjects to participate in the study and complete a web-based questionnaire on smoking history and cessation. RESULTS:  Of 2,684 invited subjects, 612 were included in the analyses. Bupropion was the most frequently used SCT during last quit attempt (35%), followed by varenicline (28%), bupropion + nicotine (12%) and varenicline + nicotine (9%). Overall, 51% of patients also reported behavioural therapy. About 52% of varenicline and bupropion users, 42% of nicotine users and 20-40% of patients using multiple drugs reported not to smoke at the time of questionnaire. The median (IQR) number of days between time of questionnaire and start date of last quit attempt ranged from 271 (104-432) for varenicline + bupropion to 356 (205-518) for bupropion. The mean duration of drug use ranged from 42-53 days among SCT users who remained abstinent and from 19-42 days among SCT users who relapsed. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show that up to 50% of SCT users in daily practice quit smoking. More widespread use of these drugs in combination with behavioural therapy will help to further decrease smoking prevalence.