With insurers now trying to preventatively manage health care risk, it's apparent that the size of drug cessation (especially tobacco cessation) markets are going to significantly grow over the next three years. Insurers now seem to actually recognize that an ounce of prevention is worth literally several hundred pounds of cure. From NBC26's story on drug treatment.

With the advent of a possible new blockbuster drug and greater reimbursement levels for the treatment of nicotine, alcohol, and drug addictions, global sales of smoking cessation and addiction treatments are expected to rise from revenues of little over $1.1 billion in 2005 to more than $2.3 billion in 2010, according to Smoking Cessation and Addiction Treatments: A World Market Analysis, a new study released Wednesday from Kalorama Information.

Nicotine is clearly the most abused drug worldwide, with over 1.4 billion incidences, including 50 million users in the U.S. alone. Smoking cessation has continually become a particular focus of global health agencies, and the increasing high awareness of effective smoking cessation products have helped to drive market growth.

The market now dominated by GlaxoSmithKline with its Zyban smoking cessation treatment, and Schering-Plough / Reckitt Benckiser with their Suboxone/Subetex substance abuse treatment, is primed for a dramatic change as Pfizer moves into smoking cessation.

Nicotine and alcohol are the most commonly abused drugs and the health risks associated with both are extreme.