To help smokers quit, Pfizer is donating $3.7 million worth of eight-week courses of the Nicotrol patch, a leading nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).
Studies have shown, and the 2003 effort by the New York City Health Department confirms, that smokers are more likely to successfully quit when using an NRT product. Unlike the DOHMH's previous patch program, for this initiative, the product is being distributed in a targeted manner and not through wide release to the general public.
“We are very grateful to Pfizer for this donation,” said DOHMH Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH. “These medicines save lives. We know from our previous experience of providing free patches to New Yorkers that people stop smoking when they get the medicine and support that they need. We will work closely with health care providers and community organizations to help educate residents and encourage and support their efforts to quit smoking. This initiative is likely to save the lives of more than a thousand New Yorkers.”
For this targeted initiative, the patch will be provided through the New York City Health and Hospital Corporations' (HHC) adult medicine, women's health, and smoking cessation clinics, where priority will be given to current HHC patients who lack insurance coverage or who are not covered for the patch. (Medicaid covers NRT, including the patch.) It will also be provided on a limited basis through DOHMH community events, community organizations, and to doctors and their patients through the DOHMH District Public Health Offices in Harlem , the South Bronx, and North and Central Brooklyn. In all, 25,000 courses of NRT will be distributed.