Quitters do better on 6-month regimen. It may sound like dream propaganda for the makers of nicotine patches. And it is. Moreover, at least one of the study authors has worked in the past as a consultant for GlaxoSmithKline, maker of Nicoderm CQ, one of the best-selling brands of transdermal nicotine patches. So there is every reason to dismiss a recent study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine , which strongly suggests that the currently recommended regimen of two months isn’t long enough. It should be tripled. Which also triples sales. There’s only one catch: There is reason to believe that the results are legitimate, and that smokers who are trying to quit would be more successful if they stuck with the patch for longer periods than currently recommended on the manufacturer’s box.