GSK wants consumers to kick the habit

MUMBAI, India The OTC division of a big drug maker hopes to reach almost 1 billion people worldwide with its anti-smoking products.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare announced Monday that it would increase the availability of its therapeutic nicotine products to 800 million people around the world over the next four years. It made the announcement at this year’s World Conference on Tobacco OR Health in India.

“GSK plans to introduce our quit-smoking aids to 85% of the world’s smokers by 2013,” said Raj Mishra, GSK Consumer Healthcare VP research and development. “We are committed to finding approaches, in concert with local experts, to maximize the access and impact of our life-saving products.”

A report by the World Health Organization found that tobacco use was increasingly most rapidly in poor countries due to steady population growth and tobacco industry efforts, and that without a commitment to helping smokers quit, 1 billion will die prematurely from tobacco in this century.