Author: Staff Writer

Kaival Splits Stock for NASDAQ Listing

Photo: Randy Harris
Kaival Brands, the exclusive global distributor of all products manufactured by Bidi Vapor, has implemented a 1-for-12 reverse split of its common stock, effective prior to the opening of the market on July 20, 2021. The reverse stock split was implemented by the company in support of its application to list on the NASDAQ Capital Market.
As a result of the reverse split at the 1-for-12 ratio, every 12 shares will be exchanged for one share of the common stock.
“We are excited for the new phase of Kaival’s capital markets development as we progress to listing on the NASDAQ,” said Niraj Patel, CEO of Kaival Brands, in a statement.
“Our board carefully considered the decision to effect the reverse split of our shares, which is critical for us to list on NASDAQ based on our current stock price. A reverse split is designed as an economically neutral, mathematical event that does not affect the intrinsic value of the company. While many companies execute reverse splits to avoid being delisted, our reverse split is in fact being done for just the opposite reason: to become qualified to list on the NASDAQ, which we believe will have many benefits for our company and shareholders.”
The reverse split is intended to increase the per share stock price of the company’s common stock in order to meet NASDAQ’s requirement that the company’s common stock be $4 or higher as of the listing date. Prior to listing its common stock on NASDAQ, the company’s application must be approved.
The company does not intend to issue fractional shares in connection with the reverse stock split. In order to avoid fractional shares of common stock, the number of shares issued to each stockholder will be rounded up to the nearest whole number in the event a stockholder would be entitled to receive less than one share of common stock as a result of the split. The reverse split will not affect any holder of the company’s common stock’s proportionate voting power, and all shares of common stock will remain fully paid and nonassessable.
July 15, 2021
Poda Hires Chief Medical Officer

Photo: Poda Lifestyle and Wellness
Poda Lifestyle and Wellness has appointed Jagdeep Gupta as chief medical officer.
“I am very pleased to have received approval from the board to enter the medical device market and to create the position of chief medical officer for Poda,” said Ryan Selby, CEO of Poda, in a statement. “Quitting smoking can be difficult, and the addition of Dr. Gupta as chief medical officer will help Poda to potentially develop medically approved products and treatment strategies designed to provide adult smokers with the tools they need to successfully quit smoking.”
As chief medical officer, Gupta will be responsible for designing and implementing clinical trials designed to test the efficacy of Poda’s smoking cessation products. In addition, Gupta will also help coordinate the development of additional products and treatment strategies across a wide range of inhalable therapeutic molecules as well as coordinating and overseeing the application process for Poda’s products to achieve certification as approved medical devices for smoking cessation or the inhalation of therapeutic molecules.
“I am very pleased to be joining the Poda team as chief medical officer,” said Gupta. “As a practicing medical doctor, I have numerous patients who desperately want to quit smoking, and in my experience, existing smoking cessation products have not worked as well as I would have hoped. I am especially excited to study and develop a smoking cessation technology that not only uses a tapering nicotine dose that is very precise but also addresses the oral fixation element at the same time.”
July 15, 2021
Japan Tobacco Launches Ploom X

Photo: JT/JTI
Japan Tobacco is launching Ploom X, its next-generation heated-tobacco device, on Aug. 17, 2021. Ploom X will gradually be made available across Japan, including in convenience stores and select tobacco retail stores. Ploom X will also be available for pre-launch sale at the Club JT online shop from July 26, 2021.
The device was jointly developed by JT in Japan and JTI, the group’s international subsidiary headquartered in Switzerland.
“Ploom X is the first global device developed by JT and JTI, bringing together all our resources to offer the best user experience of our time,” said Daniel Torras, senior vice president of reduced-risk products, in a statement.
“We are delighted to be able to offer this new innovative product to adult consumers in Japan, the world’s leading heated-tobacco market and where product standards and quality are of the highest importance. Listening to consumers globally, we have created a proposition that is aligned with today’s lifestyles and choices. This includes a more authentic tobacco taste, new connectivity possibilities and several options to personalize the device to everyday needs.”

Ploom X is the first global device developed by JT and JTI, bringing together all our resources to offer the best user experience of our time.
Daniel Torras, senior vice president of reduced-risk products, JTI
The new device adopts the aesthetic and innovative “Nastro” design with a more intuitive user experience, with no buttons on its surface. In addition to allowing users to precisely control heating temperature, Ploom X is equipped with a new heating technology, Heatflow, which focuses on airflow.
Ploom X is also equipped with Bluetooth functionalities that connect with users’ smartphones, enable consumers to see the battery status, lock the device and much more.
Along with the device, improved heated-tobacco sticks are being rolled out. The regular tobacco stick flavor is blended with lamina, the most aromatic part of the tobacco leaf. There is a range of 12 different heated-tobacco sticks.
July 15, 2021
IEVA Launches Vaping Website

Dustin Dahlmann (Photo: IEVA)
The Independent European Vape Alliance (IEVA) has launched an informational website for policymakers and adult smokers who want to learn more about vaping.
The new site, Vapingfacts.eu, is intended to provide basic factual information about vaping products, how they work and the potential benefits smokers can derive from switching from cigarettes to vaping.
“The more smokers understand about vaping, the more likely they are to switch to this less harmful alternative to cigarettes,” said Dustin Dahlmann, president of IEVA, in a statement. “That’s why we’re pleased to launch Vapingfacts.eu, a resource designed for adult smokers and policymakers who want to understand the fundamentals of vaping. With so much misinformation out there about vaping, and so many incorrectly believing it to be just as bad as smoking, we hope to clear the air by laying out basic facts in an accessible way.”
The site is currently available in English; however, the association will launch the site in a number of other European languages over the coming days.
July 15, 2021
U.K. to Scrutinize PMI’s Vectura Purchase

Photo: metamorworks
U.K. Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng has asked officials to monitor Philip Morris International’s proposed takeover of drugmaker Vectura Group, reports The Times.
PMI agreed on Friday to buy Vectura for £1.05 billion ($1.45 billion), giving the U.S. firm access to the British drugmaker’s respiratory ailment treatments and inhaling device technology.
The deal sparked outrage from anti-smoking groups, including Cancer Research U.K. and Action on Smoking and Health.
Kwarteng has asked officials to find out what plans PMI has for FTSE 250-listed Vectura. The British government is reportedly uncomfortable that a cigarette company would seek to profit from conditions such as asthma and lung disease.
Jon Ashworth, Labour’s health spokesman, and Ed Miliband, the Labour business spokesman, wrote to Kwarteng over the weekend, urging the government, under the Enterprise Act 2002, to intervene “to mitigate the effects of public health emergencies.”
Vectura is one of the U.K.’s leading respiratory disease companies.
It has been targeted by Philip Morris as the company tries to diversify its business away from harmful tobacco products.
July 14, 2021
22nd Century Partners for Cannabis Breeding

Photo: Ian Miller
22nd Century Group has added strategic partnerships with expert commercial-scale plant breeders Sawatch Agriculture and Folium Botanical. The partnerships with these two northern hemisphere breeders add to the breeding capabilities that 22nd Century already has through its close partnership with Aurora Cannabis and another southern hemisphere-based breeder that will be announced shortly, providing 22nd Century year-round growing capabilities.
With decades of combined specialized alkaloid plant breeding and plant biotechnology experience, these expert breeders have proven next-generation technologies and innovations on breeding, commercial scale-up and cultivation, many of which are far beyond those of independent competitive breeders or in-house breeding in consumer product companies, according to 22nd Century Group. Under 22nd Century’s direction, proprietary plants will be developed with optimum levels of cannabinoids that meet high-quality standards when grown at commercial scale.
“We are thrilled to announce the addition of these world-class alkaloid-based plant breeding specialists to complement 22nd Century’s capabilities in our upstream value chain,” said James A. Mish, chief executive officer of 22nd Century Group, in a statement.
“Our four breeding partnerships complete our portfolio of comprehensive plant science capabilities, enabling the rapid creation and scale-up of stable, tailored, highly disruptive plant lines with predictable yields critical to the mass cultivation of hemp/cannabis, which will be absolutely necessary to meet the rapidly growing market demand for improved, stable genetics.
“We are giving growers a competitive advantage by substantially improving crop yield and optimizing the time that it takes to develop new lines to a two-year cycle, a reduction from the 7 to 10 years that would typically be necessary to create new lines using our proprietary capabilities.”
With today’s announcement of these expert breeding partnerships, 22nd Century says it has secured all key partnerships needed to maximize and support each of the segments of its cannabinoid value chain: plant profiling (CannaMetrix), plant biotechnology (KeyGene), plant breeding, commercial-scale plant cultivation and ingredient extraction/purification (Sawatch Agriculture, Folium Botanical, Aurora Cannabis, Needle Rock Farms and Panacea).
July 14, 2021
PMI Details Views on Heated Tobacco

Photo: nagornyisergiy
Philip Morris International has published an overview of governments’ perspectives on heated-tobacco products on its website.
The piece touches on the situation in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration in July 2020 granted modified-risk orders with reduced exposure information for the company’s IQOS system, and that in the United Kingdom, where Public Health England (PHE) releases a regular report on the evidence behind cigarette alternatives.
The fourth such PHE review, published in February 2018, included information on heated-tobacco products. The agency found that heated-tobacco products are likely to expose users and bystanders to lower levels of particulate matter and harmful and potentially harmful compounds than traditional products.
PMI looked at the situation in other countries too.
In Germany, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has analyzed the aerosol of IQOS tobacco-heating system and found reductions in selected toxicants compared to cigarette smoke. The study states that while further studies are required to address the magnitude of exposure reduction, the measured reductions “lead to the relevant questions of putatively reduced health risks.”
The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport in 2018 concluded that “The use of heatsticks with the IQOS is harmful to health but probably less harmful than smoking tobacco cigarettes” based on its aerosol chemistry measurements.
In April 2020, the Superior Council of Health in Belgium confirmed that the in vitro and in vivo studies show reduced exposure to harmful products and, subsequently, reduced subchronic toxicity after exposure to heated-tobacco products relative to conventional cigarettes.
A study by the Japanese Department of Environmental Health concluded that “The concentration levels of hazardous compounds in the mainstream smoke of IQOS are much lower than those in conventional combustion cigarettes.”
The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) issued a statement on products that heat rather than burn tobacco based on measurements performed in its own laboratories of three heat-not-burn (HnB) products, including IQOS.
The MFDS results confirm significant reductions of harmful and potentially harmful constituents in HnB products compared to cigarettes—but doesn’t discuss them. Instead, MFDS mentions that HnB products also contain carcinogens, like benzopyrene and benzene. What it fails to mention is that the levels measured are more than 10 times lower compared to the levels present in cigarette smoke, according to PMI. The company’s public comment on the MFDS statement is available here.
July 14, 2021
Tobacco Smuggling Group Dismantled

Photo: Europol
The Portuguese National Guard and the Spanish National Police have dismantled an organized crime group involved in excise fraud and the smuggling of tobacco products, reports Europol.
During coordinated actions on July 7, authorities seized 8,000 kg of tobacco worth €2 million ($2.36 million) and 454,000 cigarettes with a value of €113,500. They also confiscated seven weapons, 24 vehicles and €216,000 in cash and bank deposits. Seventeen people were arrested.
The criminal network was involved in the illegal import of large quantities of tobacco leaves and strips from Spain into Portugal. This raw material served the illegal production of both cigarettes and tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes distributed on the Portuguese black market.
Earlier, in mid-June 2021, Spanish authorities discovered and dismantled cutting and processing facilities. The tobacco processed there was shipped to Portugal where it was stored in different warehouses before being further distributed. Since the investigation was launched in May 2020, the Portuguese and the Spanish authorities have detained 23 individuals and seized about 1.8 million illicit cigarettes along with 11 tons of tobacco, all of which was worth about € 3.2 million.
Illicit trade in tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes continues to be a widespread criminal trend in Portugal. Certain “cheap white” cigarette brands have become so popular on the black market that criminal networks have started to counterfeit them rather than smuggle them. This illegal activity generates millions of euros in profit for the involved criminal organizations.
While total cigarette consumption continues to decline, the share of illicit cigarettes in Europe increased by 0.5 percentage points to 7.8 percent in 2020, according to a recent study by KPMG.
July 13, 2021
Large Companies Likely to Dominate U.S. Vapor

Photo: bimserd
Large companies may soon dominate the U.S. vapor market while e-cigarettes produced by smaller companies may disappear, according to new research by ECigIntelligence.
Analysis of FDA premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) shows that more applications for simpler disposables and cigalike devices were submitted than applications for open systems. According to ECigIntelligence, the simpler products usually come from large companies while the open systems usually come from smaller businesses.
Only about 30 open system brands have filed PMTAs, implying that 85 percent of open system brands will be removed from the market, even if all 30 filed PMTAs are approved.
“This may indicate the discouragement nontobacco companies face when applying for PMTA approval,” said ECigIntelligence Managing Director Tim Phillips. “The PMTA process can be a grueling one for nontobacco companies without sufficient financial means or know-how. And if smaller brands are to become less prevalent in this category, consumers may soon only have the option of a few models provided by a handful of big companies.”
July 13, 2021
KT&G Recognized for Social/Ecnomic Merits

Lee Sang-hak (right), head of KT&G’s sustainable management division, during the award ceremony
(Photo: KT&G)
KT&G has been awarded a presidential commendation at the government award ceremony for the 2021 Social and Economic Merits organized by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance on July 2.
The award ceremony was held to discover successful business models in the field of social economy and to reward institutions and individuals who contributed to the realization of social values. KT&G won the presidential commendation in the social value realization category in recognition of its young startup support projects and assistance for the socially disadvantaged.
KT&G has been running the Sangsang Startup Camp since 2017 to discover and foster socially minded entrepreneurs who would like to make contributions in promoting environmental causes and providing jobs to the underprivileged. Up to this year, 97 startup teams have been produced through the fifth operation, of which 36 have been selected by the government for its entrepreneurship development projects. So far, the camp has recorded 745 employments and cumulative sales of about 19.8 billion won.
“With this award, our contribution to the revitalization of youth startups and efforts to realize social values have been recognized,” said Lee Sang-hak, vice president of KT&G and head of the sustainable management division, in a statement. “We will continue to support social and economic causes.”
July 13, 2021