OtC giants join herbal game

Drug Store News, Nov 17, 1997 by Rob Eder

Growing up in New York City, this OTC editor used to play a lot of basketball. That's what you did if you were from the city; the game is built into the culture. You'd get to the schoolyard early and stay late, and depending upon who showed up for those pre-pickup game player drafts, you could get some pretty interesting games going. Then, of course, you had your ringers, the playground legends who had games as nifty as the names by which you knew them, guys like Larry "Leaps" from the Lower East Side.

Every now and then, one of those playground titans would eschew some "money" game in some other part of town to run a few games with the guys from the neighborhood, and that's when it was time to tie your sneakers just a little tighter, because you knew you were in for a serious game.

Well, it looks like the ringers have decided to jump into the natural care game, specifically herbals and other natural medicines. A few of the drug industry's true 7-footers have called "next game, and if the smaller- to medium-sized players have dominated the court thus far, it appears as if the perennial OTC titans are challenging to run up the score even further than the most recent tallies, which peg sales in the category as a $6-billion-plus-a-year game.

Hoping to sell the skeptics

And, it seems highly likely that the name recognition these companies bring to the table will create still more fans of natural care from an audience of traditionally skeptical consumers. For these stubborn types, the fact that the Warner-Lamberts, SmithKline Beechams and American Home Products of the world are eying entry into the category, suggests that perhaps gingko biloba, ginseng, echinacea and the like are more than just pretty flowers, but, in fact, are actuary serious medicine.

Earlier this fall, Warner-Lambert hosted a seminar here in New fork entitled "Herbal Therapies--The New Frontier of Medicine," as a platform upon which to introduce two new products into a category--namely, cough and cold--in which it has been a key player for quite some time. But, Halls Zinc Defense and Celestial Seasonings Herbal Comfort with echinacea weren't launched to be just another couple of cough drop SKUs. Harnessing the strength of two highprofile brand names. Warner-Lambert's cold-fighting dietary supplements--as they have been billed given their new natural care ingredients--mark the company's first forays into the herbal market.

Blurring the lines

But perhaps more significantly, the Warner-Lambert launch marks a further blurring of the lines between alternative and mainstream medicine, as words such as echinacea and zinc begin to become more common language in cough and cold planogramming.

Not to be outdone, last month, American Home Products inked a deal with PharmaPrint, by which the latter will develop a line of herbal products to be marketed under the Centrum label. The seven-SKU line will include a saw palmetto and a gingko product. The company has earmarked over $40 million to support the launch, slated for later next year.

Similarly, SmithKline recently announced a deal with a German manufacturer, Abtei, to produce a four-product herbal line that will include saw palmetto, gingko, ginseng and St. Johns wort.

With the arrival of these OTC giants to the natural care court, one thing is certain--herbals have become a serious game. And, while the smaller- to medium-sized players who have dominated the game thus far shouldn't take this as a sign to take their ball and go home, they might want to tie their laces just a little tighter.