The cigarette maker bought RJRNabiscoInc. 's internationalbusinesses, includingthe CamelandWinstonbrands, in 1999 and theU. K. 's GallaherGroup in 2007.
Meanwhile, Targacept, a firm based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is looking at another group of nerve-cell proteins, the nicotinergic receptors, whose activation has been shown to increase alertness and may fend off cognitive decline.
Winston Price, president-elect of the National Medical Association, an African-American physicians group, said that the current system--where patients might go to the doctor but then cannot afford drugs--is akin to sending people upstream in a canoe without a paddle.