Pfizer’s smoking cessation drug rolled out

Mumbai, Feb. 26

Smokers looking to quit the habit now have one more option to try - Champix, Pfizer Ltd’s non-nicotine smoking cessation prescription drug that has just been launched in India.

Priced at Rs 9,500 for a 12-week therapy, Champix (varenicline) has entered the Indian market in less than two years of its launch in the US, and before its launch in neighbouring markets such as China and Japan.

The product is priced less than the US and the European markets, said Mr Kewal Handa, Managing Director, Pfizer India. Champix would be imported from Germany, attracting an import duty of about 35 per cent, he said. Pfizer, however, has a patent in India on the product, he added.

India has a tobacco-related disease burden of over Rs 24,000 crore, and by 2010 it is estimated that over one million Indians will die of smoking-related diseases, company officials said.

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