Category: News This Week

The Food and Drug Administrations’s (FDA) acting commissioner, Ned Sharpless, announced on Tuesday that he’ll keep pressure on teen vaping. Sharpless assured staff during his first official remarks that he plans to “maintain FDA’s current course of action in every area and proceed full-speed ahead.”

“We’ll maintain our focus on ending the use of combustible cigarettes among adults, and on preventing kids from ever starting,” Sharpless said.

Sharpless, former director of the National Cancer Institute, took over after Scott Gottlieb stepped down. He assured staff that the FDA would not ease any pressure on e-cigarette makers under Sharpless’ new leadership.

“Let me dispel any misconceptions that the change in leadership reflects some desire of the president or the secretary for the FDA to go in a different direction from the Gottlieb era,” Sharpless said.

John D. Pritchard has joined 22nd Century Group as vice president of regulatory science. Pritchard was formerly the head of regulatory science for Imperial Brands in the U.K.

At 22^nd Century, Pritchard will oversee the global regulatory and compliance activities. He will engage with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in support of the company’s Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) application for VLN [very low nicotine] cigarettes,

In addition, Pritchard will work in support of the planned FDA rule to require the reduction of the nicotine content of all cigarettes sold in the U.S. to “minimally or non-addictive levels.”

Pritchard will also lead the company’s initiatives with foreign governments that are interested in 22nd Century’s proprietary very low nicotine content tobacco.

Over the course of his 12 years with Imperial Brands, Pritchard fulfilled key management roles in product stewardship, compliance, research and regulatory departments. As the head of Imperial Brand’s scientific regulatory engagement team, Pritchard led Imperial’s technical regulatory strategy and external scientific engagement on global product regulation. Pritchard has also held scientific and regulatory posts in the private and public sectors, including roles with Charles River, a leading global contract research organization, and with the U.K. Health Protection Agency (now Public Health England).

Pritchard received a Master of Science degree in toxicology from the University of Birmingham, England and his Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacology from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. With work cited by the U.S. Surgeon General, the World Health Organization, and Public Health England, Pritchard has considerable experience in the fields of tobacco harm reduction and next-generation tobacco products.

“John Pritchard is joining 22nd Century at a pivotal moment,” says Henry Sicignano III, president and CEO of 22nd Century Group. “John’s knowledge and experience will be invaluable to the company’s efforts to engage lawmakers, public health officials, and FDA scientists in our mission to make VLN cigarettes the world’s first MRTP… and, even more importantly, to facilitate the FDA rule to make all cigarettes sold in the United States minimally or non-addictive. What’s more, John will spearhead our important discussions with foreign governments that are interested in bringing to market our proprietary very low nicotine content tobacco in their countries.”

“I am delighted with the opportunity to join the 22nd Century team and I look forward to working with a company whose mission is to reduce the harm caused by smoking,” explained Pritchard. “Smoking claims almost 500,000 American lives annually—and millions more worldwide. I believe 22nd Century’s proprietary technology will be a feasible and effective solution to the global epidemic caused by smokers’ addiction to nicotine.”

U.K. Television doctor Christian Jessen will give a keynote speech at the U.K. Vaping Industry Association’s (UKVIA) Vaping Industry Forum on May 9.

Jessen will share his views on how vaping can benefit public health by helping smokers quit. During April, Jessen is also fronting the UKVIA’s VApril campaign, the largest vaping consumer awareness campaign in the U.K.

“I am convinced that vaping offers a route to a smoke free society in the future,” said Jessen. “There are 3.2 million vapers in the country, the majority of whom have quit smoking. But there is a long way to go and we need the support of the healthcare community, pubs, employers and local councils to allow people the freedom to vape so it’s easier for [consumers] to break their smoking habits.

“My own profession needs to do much more. Only recently, new research showed that the majority of hospitals are not allowing vaping within their grounds despite guidance from Public Health England to do so. This seems surprising considering the bill to the NHS [National Health Service] will be considerably cut if more people switch from conventional cigarettes to vaping.”

More than 200 delegates are expected to converge on 4 Hamilton Place in Mayfair, London, on May 9.

The conference will cover the role of public health, marketing and regulations, among other topics. Speakers and panelists include Mark Pawsey MP, Jon Ungoed-Thomas of The Sunday Times, Sir Kevin Barron MP, Andy Tighe of the Beer and Pub Association, Chris Snowdon of the Institute for Economic Affairs, Caitlyn Notley of the University of East Anglia, John Lee of the Scottish Grocers Federation, Peter Vorster of Credit Suisse, Sairah Salim-Sartoni, head of switching at Juul, and Elise Rasmussen, publisher of Vapor Voice and executive director of the GTNF conference.

In celebration of VApril, discounted tickets are currently available. To book a place at the conference, please visit www.ukviaforum.co.uk.

Tobacco Reporter’s sister magazine, Vapor Voice is a media partner of the event.

Tobacco sales in Zimbabwe generated $19.4 million in the first 17 days of the 2019 marketing season, compared with $81 million over the same period last year. According to the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) deliveries of the crop are down 62 percent to 11.2 million kilograms.

This season 85 percent of the national crop is estimated to be contracted, according to NewsDay. Due to high transportation and selling charges, growers reportedly prefer making bulk deliveries.

Grade prices have been lower than they were during previous seasons. According to Shadreck Makombe, president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union,  the majority of farmers are holding onto their crop in anticipation of better prices.

“From the onset the opening prices were low, and they demotivated farmers, so they are being forced to hold on their crop anticipating that as the season progresses prices will increase,” said Makombe.

“The buyer is saying this year’s quality is lower than last year’s. But as farmers we are saying the quality is good, it seems they don’t have money.”

Tanzania produced 50.5 million kg of leaf tobacco in the 2017-2018 season, down from 60 million kg in 2016-2017, according to a Xinhua report.

Tobacco production in the country has been declining since 2013-2014, when Tanzania produced 105 million kg.

Industry representatives attribute the shrinkage to a combination of infestation and low demand.

“There has been a spate of pests that destroy tens of hectares of tobacco farms annually which subsequently raise production costs of the cash crop,” said Stanley Mnozya, deputy managing director of the Tanzania Tobacco Board.

Juul has launched a tracking program that allows guardians or authorities to report a Juul product confiscated from a minor using a unique identifier on each product. Juul can then trace this device back through the distribution channel and potentially identify the specific retail store that sold the product to the minor.

“Juul Labs is committed to preventing underage use of Juul products through technological solutions, which is why we are developing an end-to-end tracking system to better understand how our products are getting into the hands of minors,” Ted Kwong, Juul’s senior communications manager, told Gizmodo.

Juul has also implemented a comprehensive action plan to address youth access to its products. This plan includes the discontinuation of Facebook and Instagram accounts, suspending the distribution of non-tobacco and non-menthol-based flavored Juul products to retail outlets, among other measures.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will make a decision on the pre-market tobacco application (PTMA) for Philip Morris International’s iQOS heat-not-burn device by the end of this year, according to Matt Holman, director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products’ Office of Science.

Holman was speaking during TMA’s annual meeting and conference in Falls Church, Virginia, USA.

Holman also gave the audience insight as to how companies applying for PMTAs and other applications should proceed with his office.

Philip Morris International this week launched the “Year of the Unsmoke,” a call to action to smokers, nonsmokers, policymakers, and regulators to drive better future for the 1.1 billion smokers worldwide. This call to action came after the World Health Organization predicted that there will still be the same number of people smoking in 2025 as do today, despite global efforts to encourage quitting.

“It should be crystal clear: If you don’t smoke, don’t start,” said Jacek Olczak,  PMI’s chief operating officer.

“If you smoke, quit. If you don’t quit, change. That’s unsmoking. It is a fact that burning generates the vast majority of harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke. Eliminating the combustion dramatically reduces the levels of harmful chemicals. There is a growing consensus among scientists and public health experts that products that do not burn and are backed by science are a much better choice than cigarettes.”

The “Year of the Unsmoke” will drive conversations around the importance of going smoke-free. “To enable people to make an informed choice about the better alternatives that are available to them is the right thing to do,” Olczak said.

A study by a Swiss lab, commissioned by the Blue Cross of Bern, Solothurn and Fribourg, found dangerous toxins called isocyanates escaping from the filters of IQOS e-cigarettes produced by Philip Morris International.

“If isocyanates are inhaled during the use of IQOS, it is very problematic,” says Rainer Kaelin, a pulmonologist and former vice-president of the Swiss Lung League.

Philip Morris acknowledges the problem, but a spokesman for the tobacco company assured the newspaper that the toxin is not inhaled when using an IQOS cigarette.

The study did not check whether the substance is inhaled by the smoker.

The Ontario Superior Court has agreed to hear a challenge to the creditor protection it granted earlier to JTI-MacDonald, Imperial Tobacco and Rothmans, Benson & Hedges.

In June 2015, the Quebec Superior Court condemned Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and JTI-Macdonald to pay cad15.5 billion ($11.6 billion) in moral and punitive damages to 100,000 victims of lung and throat cancer and emphysema caused by consumption of cigarettes.

On March 1, 2019, the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the trial judgment, but adjusted the method of calculating accumulated interest on the amount of the conviction, leaving the tobacco companies with a cad13.6 billion bill.

The tobacco companies subsequently requested and received protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

Among other things, the plaintiffs want to prevent the tobacco companies from transferring their profits abroad.

“Since tobacco companies have been able to pay billions of profits to their parent companies abroad in recent years, they certainly have the capacity to compensate Quebec’s tobacco victims,” said Mario Bujold, strategic advisor to the Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health, which represents smokers and ex-smokers who are sick in this case.