Capitalizing on the brand equity of Crocin, GSK Consumer Healthcare (GSK CH) is planning yet another brand extension to it in the anti-cold segment. The new product, which is in the development stage, is a combination of paracetamol and phenyl pherine. The Crocin 'cold relief' will hit the market in another three to four months, it is learnt.

Crocin, the acetaminophen brand of GSK and the market leader in the anti pyretic segment, has had two brand extensions launched by the company after the success of this brand. However, the first brand extension, Crocin 1000 - a paracetamol 1000 mg tablet, failed in the market and the company subsequently withdrew the same. Following this, GSK launched Crocin pain relief, a combination of paracetamol and caffeine.

The company has been aggressively promoting both these products through mass media as these tablets are currently under the OTC fold. Though there have been lots of debates going on in the country about the over-dosage of paracetamol and its liver toxicity effects, the company has been promoting Crocin Pain Relief, which contains paracetamol 650 mg and caffeine 50 mg as an OTC product through electronic media.

Crocin Pain Relief, which was launched as an over the counter (OTC) product in the third quarter of 2003 by GSK CH, is a brand extension of the popular acetaminophen tablet-- Crocin 500 of the company. Since then, the company was found promoting this product by resorting to massive print and electronic advertising.

The increasing brand extensions to Crocin is learnt to be part of the company's strategy to explore different avenues encashing the brand name, as the market for Crocin had saturated. The company has also realized that the real potential lies in the pain management segment where the number of prescriptions is on a rise. Recently, the company also stated that it had decided to extend the heritage of Crocin to strong pain killers and anti-cold segments because they see a huge opportunity in this business.