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Report: Reynolds eyes company that helps smokers quit

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Monday, November 9, 2009

(Updated 3:04 pm)

By
Associated Press

WINSTON-SALEM (AP) — Reynolds American Inc., maker of Camel cigarettes, is in talks to buy a Swedish company that helps people quit smoking, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting online Monday that the second-largest U.S. tobacco company is eyeing Niconovum AB, which sells such nicotine-replacement products as gum and spray outside the U.S.

David Sweanor, a Canadian law professor and tobacco expert, said he was briefed by people close to the talks and the deal could be worth $44.5 million, according to the report.

Karl Olov Fagerstrom, an expert on smoking cessation and nicotine dependence, formed the company in 2000, according to the company's Web site.

Sweanor and Niconovum did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Reynolds American spokesman David Howard declined to comment, calling the report speculation.

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mohair.sam

November 10, 2009 - 10:14 am EST

Is there anything stranger than the politics of tobacco? Tobacco companies diversify, produce anti-tobacco advertising/marketing, and now even further diversify to buy smoking cessation products, all while kicking into state funds to get anti-smoking messages out into the media. If indeed tobacco is as harmful as nearly everyone seems to believe, why not just ban the stuff? Yes, thousands of jobs would be lost, but that's also true of illegal drugs, where we lose both the employment opportunities and the tax revenues -- wait, I think I just answered my own question ... Truly, there are few things more cynical than laws regarding the production and use of tobacco. (Admission: I no longer smoke; quit about 20 years ago.)