title: Value to smokers of improved cessation products: evidence from a willingness-to-pay survey.
abstract: The present study demonstrated the use of willingness to pay to value hypothetical new smoking cessation products. Data came from a baseline survey of participants in a clinical trial of medications for smoking cessation (N=356) conducted in New Haven, Connecticut. We analyzed individual willingness to pay for a hypothetical tobacco cessation treatment that is (a) more effective than those currently available and then (b) more effective and attenuates the weight gain often associated with smoking cessation. A majority of the respondents (n=280; 84%) were willing to pay for the more effective treatment, and, of those, 175 (63%) were willing to pay more if the increased effectiveness was accompanied by attenuation of the weight gain associated with smoking cessation. The present study suggests the validity of using willingness-to-pay surveys in assessing the value of new smoking cessation products and products with multifaceted improvements. From these data, we calculated estimates of the value of a quit. For the population studied, this survey suggests a substantial market for more effective smoking cessation treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine and Center for Nicotine and Tobacco Use Research at Yale, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. susan.busch@yale.edu
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Busch
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Falba
authors.forename: Noelia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Duchovny
authors.forename: Mireia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jofre-Bonet
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: O'Malley
authors.forename: Jody
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sindelar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D005382:Financing, Personal; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D012907:Smoking / Q000628:therapy; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*