Tobacco giant undermined Nicorette campaign

Tobacco giant Philip Morris pressured at least two pharmaceutical manufacturers to water down antismoking messages in marketing campaigns for nicotine chewing gum and nicotine patches. This is one of the findings of research published this week in JAMA(2002;288:738-44)

Internal documents show that drug company marketing strategies for nicotine replacement therapies were dropped or modified after sustained pressure from the tobacco industry.

At the time of two case studies, which date from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, tobacco companies were …