In January 2001 the German R&D company Labtec GmbH and the Swiss R&D company APR partnered together to co-develop and co-license out Cold Fleece to pharmaceutical companies interested to market this product under their own brand name. Each company owns a 50% stake in the project. Cold Fleece can be considered as the latest generation, high tech product to be used for the symptomatic treatment of the common cold. The adhesive patch contains a blend of essential oils selected from camphor, eucalyptol, menthol and pine. The patch is fixed on to the clothes, preferably near the chest, by means of an adhesive layer. Once on, thanks to the body temperature (about 32 °C), the Cold Fleece starts releasing the essential oils in the air. These are inhaled, improving breathing and providing relief from nasal congestion.

Each patch lasts for about 8 hours after application and therefore can covers all of the night. Based on this, suggested posology is one patch per night.

The Cold Fleece Patch has several advantages over the established competitor products (e.g. Vicks Vaporub) as follows: a) no clothes contamination b) no hand contamination during application c) removal of residual ointment is avoided d) no side effects e) no skin contact

According to the expectations, Cold Fleece Patch was successfully launched during the fourth Quarter of 2001 under different leading brand names by several licensees simultaneously in the following countries: Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Belgium and The Netherlands.

Due to the opposite seasons, the product was also launched in Australia and New Zealand during the second quarter of 2002.

German Patent Application, priority 19.12.2000 / AZ 10063 378.1

Provided that the product is now on the market in several countries in Europe, APR and Labtec are flooking or licensing and supply agreements in the still available countries and in particular in USA, Canada, Japan, East Europe and South America.