NEW YORK (Business 2.0 Magazine) - When Jim Cali talks about his $40 million R&D facility and his crack engineering team, you'd think he had built a Trident submarine. "It was a skunk-works project," he says.

But Cali, head of commercial strategy for the confections division of Cadbury Schweppes (Research) Americas, is referring to Trident Splash, a new sugarless gum that took Cadbury's 100 "gumologists" three years to perfect.

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Not long ago, U.S. gum sales were falling. But thanks to a high-tech battle for supremacy, the market has ballooned 15 percent since 2003 to $2 billion, according to Information Resources.

Last year gum makers introduced 257 new varieties, and leaders Cadbury and Wrigley (Research) are experimenting with gums that do everything from clean teeth to soothe upset stomachs. Drugmakers, including Denmark's Fertin, are also eyeing the century-old category as a way to treat obesity and migraine headaches.

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