Category: Featured

  • 22nd Century Enters Agreement with Cookies

    22nd Century Enters Agreement with Cookies

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    22nd Century Group announced a new three-year exclusive license and distribution agreement with Cookies, a global hemp/cannabis company. The brand was founded in 2010 by CEO, rapper and entrepreneur Berner and Bay Area breeder and cultivator Jai.

    “This transformational strategic license, manufacturing and distribution agreement with Cookies establishes the foundation of an innovative new CDMO plus distribution business model for 22nd Century at a time when mass market channels urgently need to find new, high-margin, high-velocity products to meet the rapidly growing consumer demand for CBD products,” said James A. Mish, CEO of 22nd Century. “Our complete, vertically integrated capabilities represent the first and only industry option providing Cookies’ category-leading CBD brand with a single-source, national solution across its entire family of products.”

    “We are incredibly excited to expand our partnership beyond GVB with the 22nd Century Group. They have undoubtedly put together one of the most impressive teams in the space, and we look forward to expanding the national distribution of Cookies non-THC products together,” said Parker Berling, president of Cookies.

    The exclusive license with 22nd Century covers all Cookies branded non-Delta-9 THC, hemp-derived cannabinoid consumer packaged goods, including sourcing of all ingredients and APIs; white-label manufacturing of vapes and other CBD products; and category management through retail distribution.

    GVB Biopharma, a 22nd Century company, has manufactured various Cookies products for the past three years and under this new agreement will manufacture Cookies’ market-leading products, expected to account for more than half of Cookies’ non-Delta-9 cannabinoid sales.

    The integrated go-to-market sales and distribution components of the agreement will leverage 22nd Century’s veteran consumer packaged goods sales team, which plans to distribute Cookies products in up to 18 markets targeted for the rollout of the company’s innovative VLN products during 2023.

    The CPG sales team will target a market of approximately 60,000 retail stores consisting of independent retail, discount tobacco outlets and vape shops in nonrecreational states serviced by its network of top regional distributors and chain discount tobacco outlets. Products will also be available on the Cookies e-commerce website.

    “Cookies products are a natural fit to the same points of sale as our FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] MRTP [modified-risk tobacco product]-authorized VLN products. The combination of these two offerings will enhance our sales team’s product portfolio with a larger suite of small-footprint, high-velocity, high-margin CBD products, with Cookies’ internationally recognized products serving as a cornerstone brand as we build out this innovative hemp/cannabis CDMO+D platform,” said John Miller, president of tobacco products at 22nd Century.

  • PMI Releases Integrated Report

    PMI Releases Integrated Report

    Image: PMI

    Philip Morris International released its fourth annual Integrated Report. Informed by a formal sustainability materiality assessment, the report aims to provide an objective description of the company’s business model, governance and management, strategy and performance.

    “Despite its many tests, 2022 was a remarkable year that brought our employees closer and saw us make measurable strides toward achieving our purpose,” said Jacek Olczak, CEO of PMI. “We are progressing toward our 2025 aspiration of becoming a majority smoke-free company and ultimately phase out cigarettes. While a transformation of this magnitude and complexity cannot be achieved overnight, we are committed to making it happen as fast as possible. It is through constructive engagement that we will accelerate the pace of meaningful and impactful change and complete our transformation for good.”

    Building on its ESG framework, PMI developed eight strategies targeting the company’s most pressing areas of impact. To accompany these eight strategies, PMI established 11 goals, which form the basis of its 2025 Roadmap, and 19 key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress via its Sustainability Index. Each KPI is also aligned with one of two drivers: product sustainability (11 KPIs) or operational sustainability (8 KPIs).

    “Nonfinancial information is increasingly being used by external stakeholders to assess and compare a company’s performance to others, including the financial community in their analyses and investment decisions. It is key to the integrity of PMI’s reporting that the information and data that we publicly disclose accurately reflect our company’s progress, following clear calculation methods,” explained Emmanuel Babeau, chief financial officer of PMI.

  • Greentank Gets Millions for Vape Technology

    Greentank Gets Millions for Vape Technology

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Vape hardware manufacturer Greentank Technologies closed a Series B financing round worth $16.5 million with an unspecified “strategic investor group” that includes Canadian cannabis producer Organigram Holdings.

    The funding will be used to launch new vape technology, which Greentank CEO Dustin Koffler said in a statement, “moves away from the traditional ceramic and wicked coil systems commonly used in most vaporizer products today.”

    The technology “is expected to launch later this year and serve multiple markets beyond cannabis,” Toronto-based Greentank said in a news release, according to MJ Biz Daily.

    The $16.5 million funding round includes a $14.5 million equity investment from the investment group plus $2 million in debt financing from existing shareholders.

    The terms of the debt financing were not disclosed.

    In a statement, Greentank said its new vape technology “will expand its reach beyond cannabis to serve the broader vape category, including nicotine, e-liquids, pharmaceuticals and more.”

  • Palau Makes Sale and Use of Vapes Illegal

    Palau Makes Sale and Use of Vapes Illegal

    Image: robodread | Adobe Stock

    The island nation of Palau has outlawed e-cigarettes and other vaping products after President Surangel Whipps signed a law for “a total ban on the import, advertising, sale and use of e-cigarettes,” reports the NZ Herald.

    The law—RPPL 11-27—has expanded the country’s Tobacco Control Act to include e-cigarettes and will come into effect 60 days after being enacted.

    Beginning May 29, businesses and individuals can be prosecuted if found with e-cigarette products.

    Individuals who are caught violating the law could face a $1,000 fine, and businesses or persons importing, distributing and/or selling the product could face a $20,000 fine.

    The initial bill was introduced in the Palau National Congress in July last year.

  • Georgia Bill Would Criminalize Vaping

    Georgia Bill Would Criminalize Vaping

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    A Georgia, USA, bill, Senate Bill 47, would criminalize the use of vapor products in public spaces, reports Filter.

    If the bill is passed, it would ban vaping in all public spaces in which combustible cigarettes are banned under the Georgia 2005 Smoke Free Air Act. Those caught breaking the law would be fined between $100 and $500. The bill would also prosecute public vaping violations as misdemeanors—in Georgia, this means incarceration of up to a year and the inability to obtain certain jobs.

    Under the legislation, the definition of smoking would be revised to “such term includes the use of an electronic smoking device which creates an aerosol or vapor or the use of any oral smoking device for the purpose of circumventing the prohibition of smoking.”

  • Study: Smoking Outside Still Harms Kids

    Study: Smoking Outside Still Harms Kids

    Image: Larysa | Adobe Stock

    A new study out of Israel shows that even when adults smoke outside, six out of 10 kids are at risk from tobacco smoke harm, according to The Jerusalem Post.

    Researchers from Tel Aviv University tested for the presence of nicotine in the hair of children whose parents smoke. Data analysis showed that among smoking families who restricted smoking to porches or outdoors, 62 percent of children were exposed to tobacco smoke.

    The first stage of the study, published two years ago, showed that 70 percent of children in smoking families, regardless of smoking location, had measurable hair nicotine content, but now the researchers have examined the data by location.

    “Smoking should be avoided within a range of at least 10 meters from the house—and in open areas, smoking should be kept to a distance of at least 10 meters away from children,” the researchers wrote in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

    “The Israeli situation is of great concern because in many cases, porches in Israel are directly adjacent to the living areas and may even be partially open some of the time; the proximity allows smoke to drift from those areas to the interior of the house,” said Leah (Laura) Rosen, head researcher and professor at the School of Public Health in Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine. “The parents mistakenly believe that the porch offers a ‘safe’ place to smoke. In fact, the children are likely to be directly exposed when they come out to the porch and someone is smoking or when smoke drifts into the house.

    “Once in the home, the smoke is absorbed into the environment, for example, into the furniture or walls or rugs, and is then gradually discharged into the air over weeks or months. Further, this residual smoke, known as thirdhand smoke, can be absorbed into the body from the environment via swallowing or through the skin, especially among infants and small children. In addition, smoking parents transmit the toxins from the tobacco smoke on their skin, on their hands, in their hair and on their clothing, so it is recommended to brush teeth, wash hands and change clothes after smoking before making contact with children.”

    “The results of this study show that among smoking families, restricting smoking to the porch does not protect most children from exposure to tobacco smoke,” Rosen said. “Therefore, the health ministry’s approach, which opposes protection for individuals from smoke incursion into their own homes in order to protect the smokers’ children, does not protect the children of smokers, and in addition, it can cause substantial harm to neighbors and the children of neighbors.

    “We ask the health ministry to reconsider its stand in light of these findings. Israel must make the reduction of parental smoking a national goal and invest the appropriate resources in this issue. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions regarding when and how the exposure occurs. Eighty-five percent of tobacco smoke is invisible, and our sense of smell is not reliable, so many parents mistakenly believe that they are protecting their children while in fact they are exposing them to substantial health risks. As a society, we must safeguard citizens and distance everyone from the risks of tobacco smoke exposure, especially infants and children, pregnant women and all vulnerable populations.”

  • Singapore Officials Seize Vaping Products

    Singapore Officials Seize Vaping Products

    Image: Zerophoto | Adobe Stock

    Authorities in Singapore seized more than 85,000 vaping products in a warehouse raid conducted by Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority (HSA), reports Channel News Asia.

    This is the largest seizure of e-cigarettes and other vaping products by HSA, surpassing a haul in 2021 where more than SGD2.2 million ($3 million) worth of products were confiscated, said HSA and the Singapore police in a joint press release. The latest seizure has an estimated value of more than $5 million.

    The raid was the result of HSA following up on leads from investigating a group of people suspected of selling illegal vaping products.

    On March 28, six individuals were detained by the police at a multi-story car park at Block 592 Montreal Link. “The driver of a van was allegedly found to be distributing parcels containing e-vaporizers to five persons purportedly assisting in the delivery to buyers,” said the authorities.

    Under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act, it is an offense to import, sell or distribute vape products.

    Those found guilty for the first time can be fined up to SGD10,000, jailed for up to six months or both.

    Subsequent offenses double the penalties to a fine of up to SGD20,000, a jail term of up to a year or both.

    Vaping is illegal in Singapore. The purchase, use and possession of all vaping products are also prohibited.

  • Vape Manufacturers Must Register

    Vape Manufacturers Must Register

    Image: chrisdorney | Adobe Stock

    Following the removal of nicotine e-liquid or gel from the Poisons Act 1952 to allow for e-cigarettes and vaping products to be taxed in Malaysia, local manufacturers producing e-liquid or gel products containing nicotine must register their manufacturing activities with the Customs Department by April 30, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF), reports The Edge Markets and Free Malaysia Today.

    “Early registration within this prescribed period may prevent manufacturers from being charged a compound for the offense of late registration. This early registration will ensure comprehensive industry compliance and smooth tax collection by May 2023,” the MOF said in a statement.

    This follows the imposition of an excise tax of 40 sen ($0.004) per milliliter on nicotine e-liquids or gels.

    Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the government’s plan to impose an excise tax on liquid or gel products containing nicotine when he re-tabled Budget 2023 in February.

    The previous government under Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration also proposed to extend tax collection from gel or liquid products containing nicotine for vapes and e-cigarettes in the tabling of Budget 2022 by imposing a tax of RM1.20 per milliliter. However, the plan was postponed because nicotine vape liquid was still classified as a Class C poison under the Poisons Act.

    The new excise duty, the MOF said, would enable the government to tax the vape industry, which is estimated to be worth over RM2 billion ($454 million), and at the same time help discourage the use of vapes.

    It will also help improve rules and control of excise duty goods by customs to avoid leakage of national income, according to media reports.

  • Nicotine E-Liquid Taken Off Poisons List

    Nicotine E-Liquid Taken Off Poisons List

    Malaysia’s government has removed e-liquid containing nicotine used in e-cigarettes and other vaping products from the country’s Poisons List of controlled substances. The move enables taxation on e-liquids.

    Media reports claim the removal effectively legalizes e-cigarettes with nicotine without any regulations in place, as the current Control of Tobacco Products Regulations 2004 under the Food Act 1983 only cover conventional cigarettes and other tobacco products.

    The Control of Tobacco Product and Smoking Bill 2022 – which seeks to regulate both tobacco and vape products, besides a ban on these products for anyone born from 2007 – has yet to be tabled in the current 15th Parliament, reports Code Blue.

    Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa gazetted an order Friday to exempt nicotine “preparation of a kind used for smoking through electronic cigarette and electric vaporizing device, in the form of liquid or gel” from the Poisons List under the Poisons Act 1952 – overriding the Poisons Board that unanimously rejected the proposal last Wednesday.

    The Excise Duties (Amendment) Order 2023 – which subjects e-liquid or gel containing nicotine to excise duty of 40 sen ($0.004 cents) per milliliter – gazetted by Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is also the prime minister, was dated last March 29, the same day as the Poisons Board meeting.

    The tax on e-liquids with nicotine went into effect on April 1.

    CodeBlue reported that the Poisons Board, an independent body formed under the Poisons Act, wholly objected to the government’s proposal to exclude nicotine-containing e-liquid from the Poisons List on the basis that the harm of allowing e-cigarettes to be sold to anyone, including children, outweighed the benefit of tax revenue from such products containing nicotine, a highly addictive substance.

  • Qnovia Adds Zeller to Advisory Board

    Qnovia Adds Zeller to Advisory Board

    Mitch Zeller

    Mitch Zeller, the former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Product, has joined the advisory board of a company developing a first-of-its-kind smoking cessation inhalation product.

    Zeller said Qnovia’s nicotine inhalation product, RespiRX, has the potential to be a “game changer” in lowering the use of combustible cigarettes.

    The former director of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) from March 2013 until his retirement in April 2022, Zeller is now providing policy and regulatory strategy consulting to Qnovia, Inc.

    The company is currently preparing an application to the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) for a cessation therapy which, if approved, will be the first inhaled prescription therapy to help tobacco smokers quit.

    Zeller’s addition to the company’s advisory board comes as the FDA aims to finalize proposed bans on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars by August. The FDA also plans to propose a rule limiting nicotine levels in cigarettes and some other tobacco products.

    Zeller said access to Qnovia’s product can be one essential tool along with an administration-wide effort to provide support to those with nicotine addictions once those product standards take effect.

    “Some people will be able to quit cold turkey, but a whole bunch won’t, and they will be seeking nicotine elsewhere,” Zeller said in an interview, told Bloomberg Law.

    “The last thing that we want smokers to do if any of those policies go into effect is to simply switch to another tobacco product,” he added.

    Qnovia’s goal is for RespiRx to be the first inhaled prescription smoking cessation therapy product, according to Qnovia CEO Brian Quigley. Instead of using heat to create vapor, the RespiRx device uses an orientation-agnostic vibrating mesh nebulizer. The aerosolizing engine is nothing like a traditional e-cigarette that heats a coil to atomize nicotine based in PG and/or VG. 

    RespiRx is activated when a user inhales on the device. To aerosolize the nicotine, it sends an electrical current that causes the perforated piezo mesh to vibrate more than 100,000 times a second. “It’s that vibrating action of the mesh that then forces the liquid to the holes, creating an aerosol that appears vapor-like, allowing it to be inhaled,” says Quigley. That, he says, is fundamentally different from a traditional e-cigarette product, where the heating process can create undesired thermal byproducts.

    RespiRx uses proprietary software to deliver a precise dose of nicotine. Every time it’s activated, the device fires for three seconds and delivers a targeted dose of the drug. The base is reusable and serves as the housing for the battery and software. The RespiRx nebulizer sits within the pod that houses the nicotine drug product. 

    “The nebulizing unit (cartridge) gets replaced by the patient every one to two days. That interface means that the patient doesn’t have to clean the nebulizer,” explains Quigley. “The biggest challenge with other vibrating mesh products is that they require cleaning if used over an extended period. We’re mitigating that through the design of the interface. There is no cleaning required. We do believe that this will result in RespiRx having a very long use life.”

    Late last year, Qnovia raised $17 million to continue the development of its RespiRx nicotine replacement product.

    In June of 2020, the company appointed Quigley, a 16-year veteran of Altria Group, as its Chief Operating Officer. At Altria, Quigley served as CEO of its smokeless tobacco business from 2012 to 2018, a $2.3 billion business with over 800 employees,