Snorers, Sleeping Partners, To Get Relief From Product For Athletes

A bandage-like strip that runners, football and hockey players wear on their noses to breathe more easily will now be sold as a snoring cure.

The makers of Breathe Right nasal strips have gotten the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration to market them to snorers.

Sleepers who don’t get enough air through their nose open their mouths, which promotes snoring. Breathe Right strips work by pulling the nasal passages open.

They sell for about $5 for a box of 10, about $12 for a box of 30. Each strip is good for night.

“We have believed for some time that snorers represented one of the largest markets for the Breathe Right strip,” said Dan Cohen, chairman and chief executive of CNS Inc. of Minneapolis.

The strip has been sold as a breathing aid since 1993 and is now a common presence on the noses of pro athletes. Among Breath Rite’s celebrity endorsers is San Francisco 49er receiver Jerry Rice.

FDA regulations barred the company from selling the strips as a snoring cure until it could prove they work through testing on humans.

Tests showed that 75 percent of people snored less often and less loudly when wearing the Breathe Right strip, the company said.

Breathe Right strips have two plastic cords running through the middle that act to keep the strip flat. When the strip is stuck across the bridge of the nose, the cords pull back on the strip like a spring, trying to flatten it. This pulls the nasal passages open.