Pharmacia Corporation and the American Cancer Society have signed a collaboration designed to focus on smoking cessation support strategies. This collaboration adds to the existing relationship between Pharmacia Oncology and the American Cancer Society, who began working together in 2000 with a campaign to increase colon cancer education and awareness.

Pharmacia Consumer Healthcare, a unit of Pharmacia Corporation, and the American Cancer Society will introduce initiatives to reduce smokers' risk of lung cancer and other smoking-related diseases by helping smokers quit with education, support materials and other resources.

Pharmacia Consumer Healthcare is the maker and marketer of the Nicotrol line of smoking cessation products; the American Cancer Society is the nation's leading voluntary health organization. Together, they hope to have a major impact on how smokers quit and stay quit.

"Teaming up with the American Cancer Society to offer education and tools such as our Nicotrol smoking cessation products strengthens our mission to help smokers break their dependency from tobacco," said Stephen P. MacMillan, Sector Vice President, Global Specialty Operations, Pharmacia Corporation. "Smokers are more likely to succeed in their quit attempt when combining support such as education, counseling and nicotine replacement therapy."

The multifaceted collaboration includes:

* Licensing and Advertising Agreement
* Sponsorship of the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout
* Association with the American Cancer Society's National Cancer Information Center
* Education Collaboration

"Quitting smoking is a difficult process," says H. Fred Mickelson, national volunteer Chair of the American Cancer Society's Board of Directors. "The collaboration with Pharmacia helps the American Cancer Society further its mission in the areas of smoking cessation through awareness building events and by funding resources for smokers making quit attempts."