WHIPPANY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 1, 2026--
Alka-Seltzer Plus ® will relaunch in 2026 as Alka-Seltzer™ Cold, introducing a more intuitive brand architecture, simplified packaging and value-focused options designed to make the cough/cold aisle easier to shop. The relaunch reflects a sharper focus on the moments when consumers are sick, pressed for time and looking for trusted solutions that are easy to understand and accessible at the shelf.
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Key facts at a glance
- New brand name: Alka-Seltzer ™ Cold, replacing Alka-Seltzer Plus ® beginning with the 2026 relaunch.
- Simpler shopping: Streamlined packaging is designed to help consumers quickly identify the right cough/cold option when they are feeling unwell.
- Value focus: Affordable price points and entry sizes aim to meet shoppers where they are amid continued economic pressure, while maintaining fast, effective relief. Alka-Seltzer ™ Cold products will offer a money-back guarantee, giving consumers added confidence when trying the product.
- Consumer need: The relaunch addresses category confusion, lower brand meaning in cough/cold and growing sensitivity to price and value.
A clearer identity for cold and flu season
The 2026 relaunch is intended to give the brand a more direct connection to the cough/cold category and make the product lineup faster and easier to navigate at the shelf. Planned changes include:
Responding to how people shop when they are sick
The relaunch is grounded in three consumer realities shaping the cough/cold aisle:
1. Consumers need clarity in cough/cold relief.
2. The category can be difficult to shop, especially when symptoms make quick decisions more important.
3. Affordability and pack size matter more as consumers continue to seek practical value in everyday health purchases.
Leadership Perspective
Trevor Thrun, U.S. President of Bayer Consumer Health:
“When consumers are sick, fast relief matters. That is why we are re-launching Alka-Seltzer ™ Cold with a simpler, symptom-led pack design that helps shoppers quickly and confidently choose the right product. By making the path to fast relief easier, we are delivering what consumers need most, so they can get back to the people and responsibilities that matter.”
Availability and rollout
About Alka-Seltzer™ Cold (formerly Alka-Seltzer Plus ® )
Alka-Seltzer ™ Cold is the planned 2026 relaunch brand name for Alka-Seltzer Plus ®. The relaunch is designed to strengthen the brand’s connection to the cough/cold category, simplify shopping through streamlined packaging and offer value-focused options intended to better meet the needs of budget-conscious consumers.
About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. In line with its mission, "Health for all, Hunger for none," the company's products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to driving sustainable development and generating a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2024, the Group employed around 93,000 people and had sales of 46.6 billion euros. R&D expenses amounted to 6.2 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.
Alka-Seltzer Plus® to Relaunch as Alka-Seltzer™ Cold in 2026, Bringing Simpler Shopping and More Value to the Cough/Cold Aisle
Americans are deeply frustrated with President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy and rising prices. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of his handling of the cost of living. Just 26% approve of his handling of the economy overall, marking a new low.
The new numbers come as Trump and Vice President JD Vance hit the campaign trail on Thursday, heading to heavily Republican areas to shore up lagging enthusiasm in their party ahead of next month’s midterm elections. Trump will go to Texas and Oklahoma while Vance stumps in Florida, areas where GOP candidates were once expected to glide to victory but are now facing tougher races.
The Latest:
In the Time magazine interview, Trump repeatedly avoiding answering directly whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be reelected later this month.
“I can only say that I’m not involved in politics anymore,” said the U.S. president, who is ramping up his campaigning for Republicans in the November midterms.
Trump then touted his own record on Israel rather than answering directly whether Netanyahu should be reelected, despite several attempts from Time journalists.
Trump finally answered: “Well, people have written off Bibi many, many times, just like they’ve written off me many, many times. I wouldn’t underestimate Bibi.”
Of Netanyahu’s opponent, Gadi Eisenkot, Trump said: “I don’t hear bad things about him.”
Trump said in a Time magazine interview published Thursday morning that it’s “possible” he’ll ramp up bombing in Iran after the Nov. 3 midterms.
When pressed further by Time journalists, Trump continued: “I can’t tell you that because look, you know, you’re asking, where are you going to bomb?”
He said in the interview, conducted Sept. 28, that he rejected the latest ceasefire proposal from Iran because “things that I wouldn’t have approved a year ago I wouldn’t have today.”
Trump cited as an example an offer from Iran to “open up the Strait” of Hormuz, but said the overall proposal was “not good enough.”
An Associated Press records review shows Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton has traveled frequently and spent less time in Texas as the state’s attorney general since becoming a star in Trump’s MAGA universe.
When the conservative firebrand launched his Senate campaign on Fox News, he cleared his calendar for a trip to the Masters golf tournament in Georgia that cost Texas taxpayers at least $25,000. Overall since assuming office in 2015, Paxton left about 730 workdays blank on his official calendars and took over 275 out-of-state trips to places such as California wine country, Caribbean resorts and European tourism hot spots.
Records show Paxton’s travel cost Texas taxpayers a minimum of $1.9 million to cover expenses charged by his security detail. It’s unclear how Paxton has financed much of his portion of the travel.
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The president, in an early morning social media post, credited the “GREAT Boeing Company” with building a plane “that was able to withstand G Forces and Strain far beyond what it was designed and expected to do.”
On Wednesday, a copilot stabbed his captain and attempted to crash a flight bound for Israel from the United Arab Emirates that was carrying 174 people. Passengers, most of them Israelis, feared for their lives as the FlyDubai aircraft lost half its altitude in about a minute.
Aviation experts were also surprised the plane did not crash after a descent so extreme that most of the rudder was ripped off the tail.
“It is about time that The Boeing Company, which builds, by far, the finest commercial airliners in the sky, was given credit for this airplane’s incredible ‘genius!’” Trump added in his posting about the Arlington, Virginia-based aircraft manufacturer.
Just 26% approve of Trump’s handling of the economy overall, marking a new low in AP-NORC polling.
Trump’s numbers on the economy represent a 14-point drop from March 2025, just after he took office for the second time. His struggles on the issue mark a significant departure from his first term, when the economy was often a point of strength.
Trump’s low grade on the economy rivals President Joe Biden’s economic approval rating in June 2022, when there was record-high inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Americans were less likely to blame Biden in the lead-up to that year’s midterm elections, a sharp contrast to the solid majority who hold Trump responsible now.
Americans have grown more worried about being able to afford basics like groceries and gas over the last few months, the new AP-NORC poll shows.
About half of U.S. adults say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the coming months, up from 39% in July.
And about half are highly concerned about being able to afford food.
Pedro Sanchez, a 52-year-old from California who voted for Trump told the AP: “I used to have a lot more disposable income. I don’t have that anymore. It’s gotten eaten up because of all these increases in the cost of everything.”
Americans are deeply frustrated with rising prices under President Trump, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
Only 17% of U.S. adults approve of the president’s handling of the cost of living. That frustration is also reaching Republicans. About 6 in 10 Republicans now disapprove of how Trump is handling costs, up from about half in April.
Robert Gault, a 66-year-old from Bradford, Pennsylvania, told the AP about Trump: “He said, ’Make America Great Again.′ And I have not seen him do that.”
Despite the overall frustration, about two-thirds of Republicans don’t blame Trump personally for high prices and say factors outside of his control are more to blame.
But Americans overall disagree. A majority, 65%, of U.S. adults blame Trump’s policies for persistently high costs more than factors outside of his control.
▶ Read more
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance will both hit the campaign trail on Thursday, but they will be heading to heavily Republican areas to shore up lagging enthusiasm in their party ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
Trump’s travel on Thursday to Texas and Oklahoma kicks off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3. Vance will be stumping in Florida, putting the Republican Party’s highest-ranking officials in areas where GOP candidates once expected to have glide paths to victory but are now facing tougher races.
Republicans have expressed growing pessimism about their chances in the election, which will determine control of Congress, as the president has repeatedly dismissed concerns about high costs and gas prices as his unpopular war in Iran drags on.
According to Trump, his party’s headwinds are merely a matter of poor public relations about a job he says is well done.
“We’re not getting the word out,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “I mean, we’re just not getting it.”
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Vice President JD Vance arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Md. after a trip to Harlingen and Brownsville, Texas, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
