Pfizer's next stage of marketing for its Chantix smoking cessation pill will launch this summer with branded consumer ads in which it points out that the medication is cheaper than a pack of
cigarettes even though most health insurance plans don't cover its cost.
Chantix cost about $3 a day. Cigarettes can cost $8 to $10 a pack in Manhattan and some bars in Chicago, or $3 to $4
in rural America or certain areas where taxes on cigarettes are not as high, according to Pfizer and other sources.
Since December, Pfizer has been marketing the pill with unbranded ads
through its campaign dubbed "My time to quit." The ad campaign includes a Web site ( www.mytimetoquit.com), and offers smokers a chance to calculate the amount of money they are spending on smoking.
It does not, however, compare savings to the cost of the drug.
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