More evidence on IQOS

Philip Morris International announced today the ‘positive results from a new clinical study on IQOS, the company’s most advanced smoke-free product’.
‘The Exposure Response Study (ERS) measured the biological response of people who switch to IQOS for six months compared with continued smoking,’ the company said in a note posted on its website.
‘The study met its primary objective, demonstrating that after six months, eight measures of biological response (the primary clinical risk endpoints) improved in those who switched to IQOS.
‘PMI’s Scientific Assessment Program has rigorously tested IQOS over more than seven years and supports that switching to our most advanced smoke-free product is likely to present less risk of harm than continuing to use cigarettes. ‘Numerous aerosol chemistry and physics measurements demonstrate that IQOS aerosol contains an average of 90-95 percent lower levels of harmful constituents. Our results support that these reduced emissions translate to reduced toxicity in the laboratory and to reduced exposure in clinical studies.
‘The ERS contributes an important new facet to PMI’s research: it begins to explore the impact of these promising results by measuring the biological response of people who switch to IQOS compared with those who continue to smoke.’
“These results are very encouraging,” said Frank Luedicke, PMI’s chief medical officer. “We believe this study on IQOS is the first ever clinical study of this magnitude to directly assess the risk-reduction potential of a smoke-free product in people who switch to it.
“Everything we’ve seen, including these new results, continues to point in the direction of risk reduction.
“We are sharing the results with the scientific community at multiple conferences over the next few months and we look forward to their feedback.”
PMI said that on June 8 it had submitted the ERS results to the US Food and Drug Administration to add to the extensive body of evidence already presented to the agency in support of PMI’s pending application for authorization of IQOS as a modified risk tobacco product.
‘FDA is in the process of reviewing both PMI’s modified risk tobacco product and our premarket tobacco applications, but has not yet reached conclusion,’ it said.