Haleon, the maker of Sensodyne and Panadol, has agreed to sell its nicotine replacement brands outside of the US for £500 million, as part of ongoing efforts to streamline its consumer health portfolio.
The healthcare giant announced that it is selling its nicotine replacement therapy business to a division of Indian pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy's Laboratories. This includes brands such as Nicotinell, Nicabate, Habitrol and Thrive which are sold in various strengths and flavours as lozenges, patches and gum.
These products, designed to aid those wishing to quit smoking, are available in 30 markets globally. However, this sale does not include Haleon's operations in America. Haleon, which was spun off from pharmaceutical titan GSK in 2022, revealed that the nicotine replacement therapy business generated net revenues of £217million over 2023.
The company estimates that this sale will reduce total revenues by about 0.5% and profits by 1% this year. Brian McNamara, the chief executive of the firm, stated that the sale is "a further example of Haleon being proactive in managing its portfolio" and aligns with plans to be "more agile and competitive". "While this business has great brands, these are not core for us, but I'm sure they will continue to flourish given the focus and capability of Dr Reddy's," he added.
In recent months, Haleon has been actively offloading a number of brands as part of wider efforts to simplify the business. Earlier this year, it agreed to sell its ChapStick lip balm brand in a deal worth around $510million (£404 million), while athlete's foot treatment Lamisil was sold off last year.
It has shed light on plans to pivot towards a handful of "higher growth" brands with savings projected to be about £300million over the subsequent two years. The company remains the proprietor of renowned household brands such as Sensodyne toothpaste, Panadol and Advil pain relief medication, and Centrum vitamins.