Category: News This Week

Pfizer has agreed to settle the majority of lawsuits alleging its smoking cessation drug, Chantix, caused suicide and injuries, according to a Thomson Reuters story quoting the company’s annual filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The drug maker last year entered into agreements to settle about 80 per cent of the more than 2,700 lawsuits over Chantix at a cost of about $273 million.

Pfizer said also it had set aside $15 million to resolve all of the remaining claims in the US.

Pfizer introduced Chantix in the US in 2006 and, starting in 2008, consumers started to lodge lawsuits alleging that the company knew about psychological side effects related to the drug but failed to inform doctors and patients.

By 2009, the Food and Drug Administration required a so-called black-box label on the drug warning of the risk of suicidal thoughts, depression and other behavioral changes.

Imperial Tobacco’s sales force in Greece has won a national Sales Force of the Year award for the second consecutive year.

The Sales Excellence Awards run by the National Greek Sales Institute (NGSI) acknowledge and reward best practice across all business sectors.

The NGSI initiative culminated in a presentation ceremony in Athens where Nikos Nikiforidis, sales and trade manager Greece, was presented with the award.

“This award demonstrates how a team like ours that responds to challenges consistently and effectively will stand out from the rest of the crowd,” said Nikiforidis.

Two provisions have been dropped from the final draft of an anti-tobacco law in Bangladesh following lobbying from tobacco companies, according to a story in The Daily Star.

One of the provisions that have been dropped would have prevented farmers from obtaining soft loans or subsidies for tobacco cultivation. The other would have prevented separate smoking areas being included in otherwise smoke-free public places.

Anti-tobacco campaigners and officials in the health and agriculture ministries pointed their fingers at the finance ministry for making the changes to the draft under the influence of tobacco companies.

However, the Finance Minister was quoted as saying he had no idea why the provision for not providing soft loans or subsidies for tobacco cultivation was dropped from the final draft.

The cabinet approved in December the draft that includes for the first time chewing tobacco, dried tobacco leaves, tobacco powder and other tobacco derivatives in the list of tobacco products covered by the law.

It includes provisions for having pictorial warnings on tobacco packs, increasing the number of smoke-free public places, tightening the control on tobacco advertisements and sponsorships, and raising fines for violations of the tobacco law.

The Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Bill was sent yesterday to the parliamentary standing committee on health for further scrutiny.

Israel’s Health Ministry is asking for public feedback on electronic cigarettes before deciding whether or not to ban them, according to a story by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich for the Jerusalem Post.

This is despite a ministry committee’s having recommended that the marketing, import and use of e-cigarettes be prohibited for five years and that the prohibition then be assessed.

According to the story, lot of people lined up to say they wanted electronic cigarettes banned on the grounds that they had not been proved to be safe; so the thinking seems to be that the traditional cigarette, a product that has been found to be unsafe, should be allowed to continue to be on sale when electronic cigarettes, which a lot of people use to wean themselves from traditional cigarettes, should be banned.

Nowhere in the story does anybody make the point that it is the tar from traditional cigarettes that is believed to be the risk factor in smoking and that tar is totally absent from electronic cigarette vaping.

The public’s views are being sought via the website www.shituf.gov.il until March 25.

The ministry will announce its decision over the summer.

Iggesund Paperboard’s magazine, Inspire, which aims to convey inspiration about paperboard, paperboard packaging and design, is now available also in Japanese.

Inspire, which has a print run of almost 20,000 copies and which is distributed around the world, was published already in Swedish, English, French, German and Mandarin. But the current issue, now being distributed, is also in Japanese.

“Japan’s intricate packaging tradition and great interest in design makes it highly interesting for us to increase our presence there,” says Carlo Einarsson, director market communications at Iggesund Paperboard.

Iggesund said that it had been distributing its products in Japan for many years through the paper merchant, Takeo, and also through a number of customers who were enthusiastic about the design possibilities offered by Iggesund’s flagship product, Invercote.

“In addition, some of Asia’s strongest brands are based in Japan, so our analyses conclude that a strong presence in Japan is also a bridgehead to other parts of Asia,” Einarsson said.

Under the theme, ‘Don’t be a square’, the latest issue of Inspire, focuses in part on 3D design.

Free subscriptions to Inspire can be ordered at the Iggesund website, www.iggesund.com/subscribe.

British American Tobacco Korea said yesterday that it would reduce the price of its Vogue cigarettes to WON2,300 from WON2,500 per pack beginning March 14, according to a story in The Korea Times.

There are three products under the Vogue brand name – Vogue 1 mg, Vogue Bleue 1 mg and Vogue 0.3 mg.

“We believe the price reduction will provide more choice for consumers who are seeking high quality products at a more affordable price range,” said Guy Meldrum, CEO of BAT Korea in Seoul.

The story said that Vogue, which made its debut in Korea in 2004, was a super slim cigarette brand that had introduced charcoal filters to the local market.

Philip Morris International and its affiliate, Papastratos Cigarette Manufacturing, say they have reached an agreement with the Greek government regarding the purchase of Greek oriental tobacco during the next three years.

The co-operation agreement was signed by the Minister of Agriculture, Athanassios Tsaftaris, and PMI’s COO, André Calantzopoulos, in the presence of the Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras.

“This Agreement opens a new chapter in the history of our company in Greece and builds on our long-standing presence in this country,” said Calantzopoulos.

“It establishes a three-year framework for PMI’s purchases of Greek oriental tobacco and creates a much more predictable economic environment for the country’s 25,000 tobacco farmers and workers.”

In a note posted on the PMI website, the agreement was said to foresee, during the years 2013 to 2015, purchases of Greek oriental tobacco by PMI increased by 20 per cent on those of the past three years.

“PMI has invested approximately 600 million euros in Greece since 2003,” said Calantzopoulos. “In these difficult times and despite the unprecedented crisis that has impacted the country, not only do we remain steadfast in supporting Papastratos, our business partners and the country’s economy, but we are also expanding our business activities.”

Meanwhile, Nikitas Theophilopoulos, president and CEO of Papastratos, who was present at the signing ceremony, said that the agreement was more tangible evidence of the support Papastratos had consistently offered to Greece for more than 80 years and of its commitment to further reinforcing its presence in Greece.

“In 2012 alone we undertook several initiatives to strengthen our business in Greece including our fight against illicit trade, the investment in a new production line for fine-cut-tobacco and a reinforced social contribution program to help those in need,” he said.

“In parallel, at a time when many companies are facing cutbacks, we are maintaining our commitment to our employees without salary and personnel cuts, but on the contrary with merit bonuses for the large majority of our workforce.”

Japan Tobacco Inc. said today that the JT Group had completed the acquisition of Al Nakhla Tobacco Company S.A.E. and Al Nakhla Tobacco Company – Free Zone S.A.E. (collectively, Nakhla).

The acquisition was announced in a statement issued on November 16.

Nakhla, with two factories, one in Cairo and one in Shebin El Kom, Egypt, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of water-pipe tobacco (also known as Shisha or molasses) with an important presence in its home market.

The company exports to 85 countries, primarily in the Middle East and North Africa.

And its total sales volume in 2011 was about 24,000 tons.

‘The consideration to acquire Nakhla was at a high single digit multiple of Nakhla’s underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization in 2011, as initially announced,’ JT said in a note posted on its website.

‘The acquisition is expected to have a minor effect on the group’s consolidated performance, cash flow and balance sheet.

In the international tobacco business, the group remains committed to strengthening Japan Tobacco International’s (JTI) business foundations with an overall strategy to foster growth.’

The Innovia Group said on Friday that it had completed the acquisition of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) shareholding in Securency International and was now sole owner of the company.

And as of Friday, Securency International was renamed Innovia Security Pty Ltd (in Australia) and Innovia Security S.A. de C.V. (in Mexico).

‘Innovia Security will continue its operations led by the existing management team,’ Innovia said in a press note.

‘As managing director of Innovia Security, Mr Philippe Etienne will report directly to Mr David Beeby as CEO of Innovia Group.

‘Innovia Films is the existing major business within the Group. It is a €400 million business that supplies market-leading films for a range of uses in more than 100 countries, and is No.1 or No.2 in the world in its chosen markets.

‘In addition, Innovia Films manufactures and exclusively supplies Clarity C® Film to Innovia Security as a key material in the creation of Guardian® banknote substrate.’

Innovia had been a part-owner of Securency International for 15 years and had seen this “innovative and exciting business create tremendous changes in the banknote market”, said Beeby.

“Now as the full owner, we will work closely with the Innovia Security team over the coming months to understand how we as an organisation can best support the business as it pursues the growth of Guardian® in economies throughout the world.”

Cuban cigar sales rose last year despite the continuing economic crisis in some of its most important European markets, including its number one buyer, Spain, according to an Associated Press Newswires story quoting state-run tobacco company officials.

Sales had totaled $416 million in 2012, Habanos SA representatives told reporters at a press conference held to start Cuba’s Cigar Festival in a Havana convention center. That was up from $401 million the previous year.