Sales of nicotine patches and gum could go up in smoke as a result of the growing popularity of electronic cigarettes.
GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical group that owns the Nicorette and NicoDerm brands, said that the rise of e-cigarettes, or “vaping”, had hit sales of its products designed to help people to stop smoking.
“Of course it’s definitely taken a bit of our market, no question at all,” Andrew Witty, Glaxo’s chief executive, admitted.
Mr Witty revealed for the first time that Glaxo had considered entering the e-cigarette market itself but had dismissed the notion as being “just too controversial” because of the lack of data about the risks and benefits of the products. “We’ve consciously had a think about it but we’re not going to