Hyderabad, Dec 26, 2014 –
Novartis divested Habitrol (a nicotine replacement therapy transdermal patch) brand following the announcement of GSK and Novartis to combine their global consumer healthcare operations
In October this year, Dr Reddy’s had signed an agreement to acquire the Habitrol range of OTC nicotine patches from Novartis for an undisclosed sum. Novartis had to divest Habitrol following the announcement of GlaxoSmithKlineand Novartis in April 2014 to combine their global consumer healthcare operations into a business with annual sales of around $10.4 billion. GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis have a presence in the smoking-cessation category worldwide through a range of brands. GlaxoSmithKline holds a leading position in the US smoking-cessation market with the NicoDerm CQ nicotine patch and Nicorette nicotine gum and lozenge.
Hence, Novartis decided to divest Habitrol as the two companies were in process of streamlining their portfolios to fructify their merger deal by the first half of 2015. Business Standard