Gold Bond is also Chattem's anti-itch brand, second only to Cortizone 10 in the North American market. According to Statisti's statistics, Gold Bond's sales in the U.S. market reached $41.5 million in 2018, with a market share of 7.2%, ranking third in both sales and market share.
Gold Bond and Cortizone 10 share both Chattem brands, but they are not the same. Cortizone 10 only focuses on over-the-counter anti-itch products, while Gold Bond has a broader business, with body care products such as shampoo and shower gel accounting for the majority of the business, and anti-itch products accounting for only about one-third of the business.
Although the proportion of anti-itch products has declined today, it has not stopped Gold Bond from becoming a leader in over-the-counter anti-itch products, after all, Gold Bond started as an anti-itch product and has been involved in the field since 1882, when the main product ingredient was menthol, and today the active ingredient of its products is one of the safest local anesthetics available: Pramoxine hydrochloride.
The mechanism of action of pramocaine hydrochloride is to reduce the permeability of neuronal cell membranes to sodium ions, block the initiation and conduction of nerve impulses, and thus inhibit the depolarization and repolarization of excitable nerve membranes to achieve the purpose of antipruritic. Pharmacological studies have shown that it has strong and low acute toxicity, is well tolerated to most skin and mucous membranes, has a very low sensitivity index in humans, is very safe to use, and has basically no side effects, so it is also widely used as an antipruritic agent to relieve pain and itching caused by insect bites, plant allergies, sunburns/minor burns/cuts, etc.
Gold Bond has two major series, Medicated and Ultimate, Ultimate is mainly a daily product for body care, and over-the-counter anti-itch products are divided into a separate Medicated series to distinguish daily products from OTC over-the-counter drugs.
There are a total of 5 anti-itch products in the Medicated range, and the star of this is the Rapid Relief Anti-Itch Cream, which is also the best-selling product of Medicated, with a market share of 2.3% in North America alone. The active ingredient of Rapid Relief Anti-Itch Cream is 1% Pumocaine Hydrochloride, a relatively mature local anesthetic that provides excellent anti-itching and pain relief effects, supplemented with 1% menthol (the active ingredient of cooling oil and wind oil essence), which relieves itching and brings a cooling sensation for a better use experience.
Although pumocaine hydrochloride is good for itching from mosquito bites and plant allergies, it may not be effective for eczema, so it may be more appropriate to use another Eczema Relief Cream.
The main ingredient of Eczema Relief Cream is 2% colloidal oatmeal, which is ground to make a suspension, hence the name colloidal oatmeal. Colloidal oatmeal contains antifungal oat compounds as well as saponins, as well as some phenols, which are a very effective natural ingredient for eczema treatment, especially for people with sensitive skin, and are quite safe for children because they do not contain medicinal anesthetics and hormones.
