GlaxoSmithKline has landed a marketing coup by agreeing a sponsorship deal with the BMW WilliamsF1 team for its smoking cessation product NiQuitin CQ.

The deal with the UK-based formula team is the first of its kind in a sport that has been dominated by tobacco industry sponsorship and comes ahead of the EU ban on all tobacco sponsorship by July 2005.

The deal is an inspired move by GSK, which has also secured an endorsement from the Director General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, who called for stronger public and private involvement in smoking cessation.

The deal neatly turns the tables on commentators who like to bracket pharmaceutical companies just behind tobacco firms in the 'evil corporation' stakes, with the sponsorship underlining GSK's commitment to improving health.

Mark Dickinson, NiQuitin CQ Marketing Manager, said the deal would make giving up smoking "more aspirational".

"This is a perfect opportunity to inspire millions of smokers who have been bombarded with pro-tobacco messages through Formula One for decades", he said. "NiQuitin CQ gives smokers the support they need in the same way that the best Formula One driver needs the support of his team in order to win".

The UK ban on tobacco advertising in newspapers, magazines and billboards and new sponsorship deals finally came into force on 14 February as part of the Government's aggressive anti-smoking campaign.

Smoking-related diseases cause 120,000 deaths in Britain every year and are estimated to cost the NHS £1.7 billion.

"GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare's historic move into Formula One is excellent news for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team and the sport as a whole", said Frank Williams, Principal of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team. "With the impending ban for tobacco sponsorships looming, it seems highly apposite that a smoking cessation brand is taking its place".

Nicotine replacement therapy was made available on NHS prescription in April 2001 and has since become one of the fastest growing prescription categories in the UK. The number of prescriptions for NRT products rose by 175% to 1.73 million, in the 12 months to September 2002, according to data from IMS HEALTH.

The case for the products was further strengthened by a NICE appraisal in April 2002, which stated that NRT products were among the most cost-effective medicines when used as part of a smoking cessation programme.

GSK has control of over half the UK market for prescription NRT products with NiQuitin CQ, which is available as gum, lozenges and patches. Pharmacia, however, has control of the OTC market, with its Nicorette range far ahead of NiQuitin and Novartis' Nicotinell.

pharmafocus@pharmafile.co.uk