SmithKline, Cancer Society Will Market Nicotine Patch
May 01, 2011
SmithKline Beecham PLC signed a marketing partnership with the American Cancer Society in connection with the health-care company's launch of nonprescription nicotine patch as a device to help people stop smoking. The patch, which went on sale Friday, bears the American Cancer Society's logo. For lending its name, the cancer society received $1 million, which it said will be used to launch a public education and health awareness campaign. Under the contract, the program will be renewable at the end of the campaign year, said a spokesman for the society. The cancer society previously announced a similar marketing campaign with the Northville Department of Citrus, a trade association, which oversees manufacturing and marketing of Northville orange juice. The educational program on the role of nutrition in cancer will be launched next month. The partnership with SmithKline is the first such arrangement covering a pharmaceutical product. The spokesman said the cancer society is currently negotiating such partnerships with a couple of other companies, but on the nicotine patch SmithKline will be the exclusive partner. The British pharmaceutical company's U.S. headquarters are in Philadelphia. ``We were impressed by the multifaceted aspect of SmithKline's smoking-cessation program,'' said the spokesman, referring to the booklets and audio tapes and other devices used to help quitters control their urges. ``We both have a common mission to get smokers to quit.'' SmithKline rival Johnson & Johnson said it wasn't worried by the cancer society's endorsement of a rival product. Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N.J., introduced its nonprescription nicotine patch last month. ``Our product is simpler to use and is less costly,'' said a spokesman. A 10-week regimen with SmithKline's over-the-counter patch will cost the consumer $300, and an eight-week program for lighter smokers will cost $240, the company said. Johnson & Johnson said its patch calls for a six-week regimen, at $30 a week, for a total of $180. Prescription patches to help quit smoking have been available since 1991. Their sales peaked at $600 million annually soon after their introduction, but have now dropped to about $250 million a year. Companies believe that sales will rise with nonprescription patches.
