Voxiva, creator of Text4Baby and Text2Quit, announced this week an agreement with Alere Wellbeing's smoking cessation program Quit For Life to exclusively merge their services into one offering.

Voxiva’s Text2Quit launched in June. The service makes use of text messages, emails and the web along with evidence-based best practices from the Surgeon General and peer-reviewed studies. The service is personalized around the end user’s planned quit date and supports multiple quit attempts based on the users own feedback. Text2Quit has a number of features that set it apart from the straightforward Text4Baby SMS service — Text2Quit even offers games to help users fight off cravings.

Alere’s Quit For Life Program, according to the company, "offers phone-based cognitive-behavioral coaching, web-based learning and social support, medication decision support, medication fulfillment, email coaching, and live chat."

The deal with Alere shows that Voxiva is taking a markedly different approach to market its newest text-based offering. Text4Baby relies on a network of hundreds of public and private partners to drive adoption.

“Text-based programs have been shown to be highly effective drivers of intervention for tobacco cessation. A study recently published in The Lancet showed that text-based programs doubled quit rates when compared to control groups,” stated Voxiva CEO Justin Sims in a press release. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Alere Wellbeing, the national leader in tobacco cessation, to deliver our Text2Quit program to as many smokers as possible.”

Read the full press release below.

PRESS RELEASE -- Today, Alere Wellbeing, Inc. (formerly Free & Clear, Inc.) and Voxiva, pioneers in their respective fields of tobacco cessation and mobile health, announced an agreement to integrate their services into one enhanced offering. Under the agreement, Alere obtains the exclusive right to offer Voxiva’s Text2Quit℠ service, enabling participants to receive up to 300 unique text messages that help keep them engaged and motivated, in conjunction with the Quit For Life® Program, its market leading tobacco cessation program.

Alere’s Quit For Life® Program offers phone-based cognitive-behavioral coaching, web-based learning and social support, medication decision support, medication fulfillment, email coaching, and live chat. The addition of Text2Quit℠ interactive mobile capabilities enhances its position as the most technologically advanced, evidence-based, and engaging tobacco cessation program available to employers, health plans, and government agencies.

Recognized for its Text4Baby℠service, the nation’s largest mobile health initiative, and recently named by Fast Company magazine as one of the world’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, Voxiva brings a decade of global experience in mobile health to the problem of tobacco use. Voxiva’s team has worked closely with experts at George Washington University to create Text2Quit℠, a highly personalized and interactive mobile smoking cessation program. Alere Wellbeing has been providing tobacco cessation services for more than 25 years. Today, in collaboration with the American Cancer Society®, Alere Wellbeing offers its Quit For Life® Program to 27 states and more than 650 employers and health plans; over the years, its services have helped more than one million people.

“Text-based programs have been shown to be highly effective drivers of intervention for tobacco cessation. A study recently published in The Lancet showed that text-based programs doubled quit rates when compared to control groups,” said Voxiva CEO Justin Sims. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Alere Wellbeing, the national leader in tobacco cessation, to deliver our Text2Quit℠ program to as many smokers as possible.”

"Voxiva’s leadership in text-based health technology is a natural fit for us, and we jumped at the opportunity to offer the interactive mobile capabilities of Text2Quit℠ in conjunction with the Quit For Life® Program," said Sharen Ross, Alere Wellbeing Senior Vice President of Product and Marketing. "We pride ourselves on being the leaders in tobacco cessation, both clinically and technologically. Partnering with Voxiva supports and promotes that position."

About Alere Wellbeing

Alere Wellbeing's mission is to provide products and services that identify and measurably improve sub‐optimal health conditions and behaviors that lead to chronic disease and premature death. Alere Wellbeing is known and respected for its intense focus on scalable service quality, dedicated account management, continuous program improvement, and transparent reporting of measurable outcomes. Alere Wellbeing has contributed to more than 100 published research studies and maintains a collaborative partnership with the American Cancer Society® and an active research program funded by the Centers for Disease Control, American Legacy Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. More information about Alere Wellbeing can be found at http://www.alerewellbeing.com.

About Alere

By developing new capabilities in near‐patient diagnosis, monitoring, and health management, Alere enables individuals to take charge of improving their health and quality of life at home. Alere's global leading products and services, as well as its new product development efforts, focus on cardiology, women's health, infectious disease, oncology, and toxicology. Alere is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. For more information regarding Alere please visit http://www.alere.com.

About Voxiva

Founded in 2001, Voxiva is a global pioneer in delivering interactive mobile health services. We leverage the world’s 5 billion mobile phones to communicate, interact, and engage people to help them live healthier lives. Our patient engagement solutions incorporate social marketing approaches and evidenced-based best practices to deliver highly effective and engaging solutions. Our programs combine multiple technologies - SMS text messaging, interactive voice, email, mobile apps, devices, and the web - to support prevention and wellness, disease management, adherence, and more. For more information, please visit http://www.voxiva.com.