Stop-Smoking Products Good for Consumers, Great for Druggists


Stop-Smoking Products Good for Consumers, Great for Druggists

By Isadore Barmash

Summary: Conversion of two major products from prescription to over-the-counter fuels this business. More such switches are expected.

Nicotine replacement therapies. Whether they come in a skin patch (Nictorol, Nicoderm, or Habitrol) or in a chewing gum (Nicorette), the millions of Americans who still insist on smoking (46 million at last count) either love them or hate them, depending upon the degree of their habit or desire to quit it. Aimed at weaning away the smoker from his or her craving, these stop-smoking products are becoming big business in the nation's drug, discount and convenience stores.

Much like the proliferating cold-cough medications, the conversion of several stop-smoking products from prescription to over-the-counter has tended to fuel their sales. Two of those conversions already have become big sellers, backed by substantial trade and consumer advertising.

They are Nictorol, a nicotine, transdermal patch, made by McNeil Consumer Products Company. The other is the Nicorette nicotine gum offered by SmithKline Beecham Consumer Health Company. The skin patch permits the smokers to reduce their desire for cigarettes by releasing nicotine into the bloodstream through the skin. The Nicorette gum alleviates smoking withdrawal symptoms through a temporary alternative source of nicotine. In both cases, the companies claim, the nicotine used does not contain the tars and carbon monoxide that come in cigarettes.

Most recently, the market competition in these types of products heated up when the first of two other conversions of skin patches to over-the-counterappeared on store shelves. This was Nicoderm, produced and distributed by SmithKline and Hoechst Marion Roussel Inc. The other is Habitrol, due soon from Ciba-Geigy Corporation.

It takes no great imagination to anticipate a fierce marketing battle for market share among the patches or between them and the chewing gum, both in the broadcast and print media.

In April, SmithKline won government approval for the conversion of Nicorette and beat the field. Then, in July, McNeil came through with its Nicotrol and sought to gain a leg up by promising a relatively quick remedy. "Introducing new Nicotrol," the ads said. "The first and only six week stop smoking aid. Now available without a prescription." And the day of introduction, July 17, Brian Perkins, president of McNeil, declared, "Today is the day for smokers who are ready to begin taking control of their nicotine habits. Smokers now have a proven tool practically at their fingertips to help them quit smoking."

But SmithKline wasn't sitting blandly on its early introduction. Shortly after McNeil's advertising blast, SmithKline took full-page ads in several national newspapers comparing the two products. "Beat the Chain!" headed a checklist which favorably compared Nicorette to Nicotrol. Two of the stated claims were that the chewing gum worked faster and produced a greater control over nicotine than the skin patch.

Interestingly, SmithKline also has tried to attack the stop-smoking problem through the nose. Last March, the Food and Drug Administration cleared SmithKline's Nicotrol NS, which was a prescription nicotine nasal spray. It was intended to ease nicotine withdrawal symptoms and to assist the smoker as part of a thorough program. So, in effect, the smokers who want to quit (SmithKline insists that 75 percent of them wish to do so) can now try it on their skin, through their noses or by some feverish chewing!

Taking the smoking cure isn't a simple or easy matter. It's not cheap but not expensive either. It requires patience and determination. A spot- check with my favorite, local drug store, CVS, finds the following stop- smoking products posted at the busy pharmacist's counter:

Nicoderm (in three steps)

  • Step 1. 14 patches. 21 mg. a 2-week kit. $49.99
  • Step 2. 7 patches. 14 mg. 29.99
  • Step 3. 7 patches. 7 mg. 29.99

Nicotrol (six-week treatment)

  • Starter kit. 7 patches. 15 mg (One-week supply for those who smoke over 10 cigarettes daily) $29.99
  • Refills. 7 patches. 15 mg. (l week supply) $28.49

Nicorette

  • 108 pieces of gum. 4 mg. (For those who smoke over 24 cigarettes a day) $56.99
    • Refill kit. 48 pieces of gum. 4 mg. $33.99
  • 108 pieces of gum. 2 mg. (For those who smoke less than 25 cigarettes a day.) $49.99
    • Refill. 48 pieces of gum. (For those who smoke less than 25 cigarettes a day.) $29.99

There's the whole story of what's available in at least one drug-store chain. The detail given is aimed at showing how the doses are gradually reduced so as the provide less of the nicotine over the therapy time to wean the smoker away from his or her habit.

How well do these products work? That's the big question. The answer is, for the most part, very encouraging to those who want to drop the "filthy" habit. Nicoderm, since its introduction as a prescribed drug in 1991, has "safely and effectively" relieved withdrawal symptoms, says the producer, Hoechst Marion Roussel North America, thus aiding smokers to quit a s part of a comprehensive behavioral program. Any side effects? The only and most frequent one is a temporary itching or burning on the skin where the patch is applied. This can be relieved by matching the patch each day.

No side-effect problems with the Nicorette gum, as far as is readily available.

So how big is this stop-smoking market? No numbers are at hand yet but in terms of prescriptions it runs about $263 million. But, as a number of industry sources point out, this could be a puny market value compared to what it most likely will be as more prescription smoking cessation products go over-the-counter and the public becomes more conscious of it.

But, given the numbers that SmithKline uses -- 46 million American smokers, 75 percent of whom want to quit and 70 percent of whom won't see their doctors -- how many will actually take the cure in the next year, two or three?

An open question indeed. I wouldn't know. I'm a smoker.

Writer: Isadore Barmash covered the retailing industry during a distinguished career with The New York Times, where he won seven Publisher's Merit Awards and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

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