After a purge of tobacco products, which lasted seven months, CVS Caremark Corp has emerged from the other end with a new corporate name to signify the new direction is it taking a step in: CVS Health.

The pharmacy and retail chain unveiled its new name yesterday, which was also the day that the drugstore made its last sale of tobacco products at all of its 7,700 pharmacies. Its purge of tobacco products ended a whole month ahead of schedule. CVS said in February that it would get rid of all of the tobacco products in its stores by the 1^st of October. This move meant that the company would have to give up about $2 billion in sales each year.

The financial risk that the company was taking on was justified by the hope that being the fire major pharmacy chain to cease to sell tobacco products would place a halo around its head in terms of public relations. CVS is dependent on the hope that the distinction will help it gain traffic and customers in other parts of the company, such as the market of prescription drug programs for clients. The company also hopes that this move will reposition it as a larger provider with a wider range of basic services regarding health care.

Larry Merlo, the president and chief executive officer of CVS said in an interview that while there is never a correct time to walk away from $2 billion in revenue, this was the right time. Eliminating the obstacle of tobacco products will enable the company to grow over the long term.

It is not clear whether the decision has resulted in any financial benefits to the pharmacy chain. No other national pharmacy chain has followed in CVS’s footsteps to get rid of cigarettes.

Walgreen Co (NYSE:WAG), the biggest pharmacy chain in the United States, stated that only 4 percent of tobacco products are sold at pharmacies. The company believes that dropping tobacco products from its stores will have a negligible effect on cigarette use, since smokers can go to other vendors like dollar stores, which now carry cigarettes in recent years. As Walgreens continues to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products, Walgreens said that it will emphasize its offering of other products and programs to help people quit smoking.

In a study that was published yesterday, both San Francisco and Boston had banned tobacco sales at retailers with pharmacies, and the result was that the number of people buying tobacco dropped by 13.3 percent. This shows that a widespread effort is more effective at reducing cigarette sales and thus cigarette usage.

CVS said that it plans to use the space once occupied by tobacco products behind the check out registers to advertise the fact that they do not sell the product anymore. The president of the pharmacy division of CVS, Helena Foulkes, stated that some of that space will also be used to stock products that will help smokers quit.

CVS also noted that they do not plan to carry electronic cigarettes. According to Mr. Merlo, the company does not believe that it is consistent with everything that the company has taken measures to do.

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