Category: Science

  • Reporting harm reduction

    Reporting harm reduction

    British American Tobacco yesterday published its 2018 Harm Reduction Focus Report, which looks at the company’s strategy of ‘transforming tobacco’ by seeking to provide consumers with satisfying, reduced-risk alternatives to smoking.
    ‘This new report highlights BAT’s continued commitment to contributing to tobacco harm reduction,’ the company said in a note posted on its website. ‘It demonstrates how the company has made tremendous progress in its long-held ambition to provide consumers with less risky tobacco and nicotine choices. Adult consumers are offered a much broader range of alternatives than ever before, including vapor products, tobacco heating products and oral tobacco and nicotine products in 28 countries globally.’
    BAT said the report focused also on how the company was maximising the potential of its products to contribute to harm reduction by continuously investing in innovation, building reliable evidence backed by robust science, and driving responsible growth of the industry through collaborative efforts.
    “At BAT, we’re committed to transforming tobacco by providing consumers with satisfying alternatives to smoking,” chief executive Nicandro Durante was quoted as saying. “Without the right products, tobacco harm reduction will never be a reality, which is why our approach is centred on developing an outstanding product portfolio.
    “But these products can only meet their potential if the right regulatory and market conditions are in place.  Stakeholders from across government, industry and public health need to continue to work together to create an environment for tobacco harm reduction to be successful.
    “As I come to the end of my eight-year tenure as CEO of this fantastic company I am immensely proud of the progress we have made with regards to harm reduction. But this is just the beginning of BAT’s mission to transform tobacco.”
    The report highlights are said to include:

    • Expert viewpoints from BAT’s senior leadership in which Durante comments on BAT’s progress in its commitment to harm reduction under his leadership, and in which scientific and R&D director Dr. David O’Reilly writes about the transformation of the tobacco industry and what it means for BAT.
    • An expert stakeholder viewpoint from Dr. Saul Shiffman, a professor of clinical and health psychology, who has been conducting behavioral research on nicotine and tobacco for 45 years.
    • Information on BAT’s diverse range of potentially reduced-risk products (PRRPs) – from vapor products and tobacco heating products, to oral tobacco and nicotine products – that are now available in 28 countries.
    • An overview of the scientific assessment framework BAT has developed to assess the reduced-risk potential of its products.
    • A reference to the growing body of independent evidence that demonstrates the reduced risk of emerging tobacco and nicotine alternatives to smoking.
    • The importance of effective regulation, including product quality, and safety standards.
    • BAT’s continued commitment to tobacco harm reduction – how it will continue to invest in seeking to develop less risky alternatives to cigarettes, provide sound science behind its products, engage with regulators to raise awareness about the potential benefits of PRRPs, and responsibly market its products to adult consumers looking for potentially less risky alternatives.
  • FDA committee meeting set

    FDA committee meeting set

    A committee that advises the US Food and Drug Administration is to meet to discuss an amendment to Swedish Match North America’s (SMNA) modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) applications for eight General Snus products, and an MRTP application submitted by US Smokeless Tobacco Company (USSTC) for its Copenhagen Snuff Fine Cut tobacco product.
    In a note issued through its Center for Tobacco Products, the FDA said it had issued a Federal Register notice announcing a meeting of the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) scheduled for February 6-7 at the FDA White Oak campus.
    The committee is due to discuss scientific issues related to SMNA’s amendment – made public in October – to its MRTP applications for eight General Snus products. It is due to discuss also the MRTP application submitted by USSTC for its Copenhagen Snuff Fine Cut tobacco product, which is currently under scientific review by FDA.
    ‘The Tobacco Control Act defines an MRTP as any tobacco product sold or distributed for use to reduce harm or the risk of tobacco-related disease associated with commercially marketed tobacco products,’ the FDA said in its note. ‘MRTP information may communicate to consumers that the product is less harmful or presents a lower risk of tobacco-related disease than other commercially marketed tobacco products, reduces exposure to a substance, or does not contain or is free of a substance.
    ‘During this upcoming meeting, representatives from Altria (parent company to USSTC) and FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products’ Office of Science will present information about the company’s MRTP application currently under FDA scientific review.
    ‘In addition, TPSAC members will hear presentations from SMNA and FDA about that company’s recent amendment to their MRTP applications for eight General Snus smokeless tobacco products, which FDA previously acted on in December 2016.
    ‘TPSAC members may then discuss available scientific evidence related to issues and questions posed by FDA about the USSTC application and SMNA amendment. During this discussion, TPSAC voting members may vote on specific issues and questions or other topics arising during the committee’s discussion.’

  • HNB grabs big market share

    HNB grabs big market share

    More than 230 million packs of heat-not-burn (HNB) sticks were sold in South Korea between January and September, according to a story by Kim Hyun-bin at koreatimes.co.kr citing figures published by the Ministry of Economics and Finance.
    This means that HNB sticks have captured more than nine percent of total cigarette sales since Philip Morris launched its IQOS device in May 2017.
    The Government is said to be concerned that HNB devices are popular among teenagers and that this popularity is spreading.
    According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Young Adults’ Health Condition Report, the ‘smoking’ rate among middle to high school students rose to 6.7 percent from 6.4 percent last year.
    About 9.4 percent of male students smoked, down from 9.5 percent in 2017, while the smoking rate among female students rose from 3.1 percent to 3.7 percent during the same periods.
    Of those male and female students who reported smoking, 43 percent were said to have used HNB devices.
    The story quoted ‘experts’ as saying that HNB devices were popular among teenagers as they created less odor than did conventional cigarettes. Most students smoked discreetly because they feared being caught by teachers and parents.
    The risks associated with using HNB devices were called into question after the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety released a report stating HNB devices delivered five cancer-causing substances and tar levels in excess of those delivered by combustible cigarettes.
    The Ministry announced the results after testing IQOS, British American Tobacco’s glo device and KT&G’s Lil.
    Philip Morris is suing the Ministry for declining to provide information on its research methods.

  • Scholarships on offer

    Scholarships on offer

    Knowledge•Action•Change (KAC), the organization behind the Global Nicotine Forum (GNF) held annually in Poland, has launched its 2nd Global Scholarship program focused on tobacco harm reduction.
    The program is said to be aimed at building research capacity in the field of tobacco harm reduction; developing and promoting the evidence base; raising awareness of research and its implications for public health policy; enabling consumers to make more informed personal health choices; and improving the implementation and understanding of tobacco harm reduction.
    In a note posted on its website, KAC said that recent years had seen advances in the scientific understanding of products used for tobacco harm reduction, including laboratory-based and clinical studies of their effects and safety, behavioural studies of how and why they are used in different populations and contexts, epidemiological studies into patterns of use, and the relationship between the use of these products and changes in tobacco smoking. ‘There is an increasing understanding of the range of appropriate and effective evidence-based regulation and standards for harm reduction products, and of harm reduction strategies and policies,’ the note said.
    ‘However, on a global basis scientific capacity for research on tobacco harm reduction and related products is not evenly distributed, and there is considerable variation in the use of evidence to establish effective and appropriate public health policies.
    ‘In addition, despite there being strong evidence for the effectiveness of a tobacco harm reduction approach, public understanding of the evidence base and its implications for both policy and personal health choices is limited.
    ‘This scholarship program aims to redress this imbalance. We expect proposals to be modest but achievable: they will be assessed for their potential significance in advancing the field.’
    KAC said it wanted people to learn from GFN and to have the opportunity to implement this learning in their home countries.
    ‘There will be 20 scholarships for the year, with funds available to support agreed projects up to the value of $10,000.
    ‘The scholarships are a K•A•C initiative funded by a grant from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW).
    ‘The programme was independently designed by and is run by K•A•C.
    ‘Some projects may be included in future versions of the KAC publication The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction.’
    The 2018 report, No Fire, No Smoke: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction, is due to be launched in the UK at the House of Commons on December 18.

  • Okay, just a puff

    Okay, just a puff

    While vapers may suffer the occasional smoking lapse, they don’t necessarily see such a lapse as ‘game over’ for their quit attempt, and it doesn’t have to lead to a full relapse, according to a story at medicalxpress.com describing new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA), UK.
    The research findings, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review, suggest that vaping encourages not just smoking cessation, but long-term relapse prevention.
    Lead researcher, Dr. Caitlin Notley, of the UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said electronic cigarettes were the most popular aid to quitting smoking in the UK, and that her research team had wanted to discover what happened when people who had switched to vaping lapsed back into smoking.
    “In the past, a brief smoking lapse would almost always lead to a full relapse, and people would usually feel like a failure for slipping up,” said Notley. “But this was before people started switching to vaping.
    “The difference is that, for some vapers, the odd cigarette was thought of as being ‘allowed’. For others, an unintentional cigarette made them even more determined to maintain abstinence in future.
    “Either way, it didn’t necessarily lead to a full relapse back into smoking…
    “Because vaping is a more pleasurable alternative, our research found that a full relapse into smoking isn’t inevitable when people find themselves having the odd cigarette.
    “There has been a lot of theorising around the process of smoking relapse after quit attempts. But all of these date back to pre-vaping times. This fresh evidence makes us question the usefulness of that understanding now that so many people are choosing to switch to vaping.
    “For ex-smokers, vaping offers a pleasurable, social and psychological substitute to cigarettes – and it powerfully alters the threat of relapse. The old ‘not a puff’ advice may need revisiting.”

  • Monitoring developments

    Monitoring developments

    The EU Commission has said it does not undertake educational awareness-raising campaigns on the toxicity of e-liquids and flavourings, and that it does not foresee its undertaking such activities.
    The Commission was replying to questions posed by a Spanish member of the EU Parliament.
    In a preamble to three questions, José Blanco López said the use of refillable e-cigarettes and the potential exposure to liquids from e-cigarettes that contained high concentrations of nicotine posed risks to public health.
    Twenty percent of people aged between 14 and 18 had tried this ‘new system’.
    ‘The majority of them do not know that it contains nicotine and many others take another type of drug due to the different way that they use e-cigarettes, according to the latest data from the Spanish National Committee for Preventing Tobacco Addiction,’ he said.
    ‘In accordance with European regulations in this area, namely Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, Directive 2014/40/EU and Report COM (2016) 269 final, can the Commission say:
    1)         ‘Is it considering the possibility of carrying out a greater number of investigations on certain aspects of e-cigarettes which apply to refillable models, such as emissions checks and studies on the safety level of the flavouring substances and their blends?
    2)         ‘Does it intend to raise standards for labeling?
    3)         ‘Does it intend to launch informative and educational awareness-raising campaigns on the toxicity of liquids and flavouring substances?’
    In reply, the Commission said it had taken note of the figures from the Spanish National Committee for Preventing Tobacco Addiction presented by the MEP.
    ‘The Tobacco Products Directive lays down rules for tobacco and related products placed on the EU market,’ it said. ‘Article 20 of the Directive introduces a regulatory framework for electronic cigarettes with a focus on safety, quality, consumer protection and information as well as data collection.
    ‘The Directive does not however harmonise all aspects of electronic cigarettes or refill containers (e.g. rules on flavours and nicotine-free refill liquids are of national competence).
    ‘The Commission continuously monitors developments related to e-cigarettes, including emerging scientific evidence. This information will contribute to the implementation report on the Tobacco Products Directive that the Commission is required to submit in 2021, in line with Article 28(1) of the Directive. The Commission facilitates information exchanges and best practices, assessment of data and is working with member states for example in the Expert Group on Tobacco Policy, Subgroup on Electronic Cigarettes and in the context of a Joint Action on Tobacco Control.
    ‘The Commission does not currently undertake educational awareness-raising campaigns and does not foresee activity in this area.’

  • Heated court battle

    Heated court battle

    South Korea’s food and drug watchdog said today it had filed a response to Philip Morris Korea’s lawsuit over the disclosure of information related to research on the harmful substances found in alternative tobacco products, according to a Yonhap News Agency report.
    After filing a statement to the Seoul Administrative Court on Saturday, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it had briefed a local law firm to prepare for a legal battle with PM Korea.
    The Yonhap story said that the Ministry and PM Korea were expected to engage in a ‘fierce legal battle’ once the court had set a hearing schedule.
    The lawsuit came after the Ministry said in June that five cancer-causing substances were found in heat-not-burn tobacco products sold in the local market, with the level of tar detected in some of them exceeding that of conventional cigarettes.
    The ministry made the announcement after investigating PM’s IQOS, British American Tobacco’s glo and KT&G’s lil.
    Four months later, PM Korea sued the Ministry for declining PM’s request to provide certain information about its research results, including the method of analysis and the experimental data.
    PM has claimed that, compared with conventional cigarettes, IQOS delivers lower levels of harmful compounds.
    The Ministry has reportedly expressed its displeasure at the lawsuit, saying PM Korea had skipped several administrative procedures aimed at ironing out differences.

  • It's time to talk

    It's time to talk

    The website for the sixth Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) is now online.
    The conference will be held at the Marriott Hotel, Warsaw, Poland, on 13-15 June 2019.
    The conference, whose theme is, It’s time to talk about nicotine, is due to include plenary sessions, symposia, panel discussions, poster presentations, and satellite sessions.
    The program committee is inviting abstracts for oral presentations, deadline February 10, and posters, deadline March 31. Abstracts should be submitted online.
    The committee will use selected abstracts to construct themed sessions over the coming months. Authors will be informed if their abstracts have been accepted before the posting of the near-final program by April 22.
    The organisers are making available up to three scholarships for early-career researchers who are chosen to make oral presentations.
    Once again, the International Symposium on Nicotine Technology (ISoNTech) will run alongside GFN18.

  • Healthy results for Ploom

    Healthy results for Ploom

    Japan Tobacco Inc. said today that the results of a clinical study had demonstrated a reduction in exposure to, and uptake of, selected harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) in Japanese healthy adult smokers who switched to Ploom TECH, JT’s tobacco vapor product.
    The study was conducted in consultation with a medical advisor, Yuji Kumagai, MD, PhD, a professor at the Kitasato Clinical Research Center.
    The researchers randomly assigned 60 Japanese healthy adult smokers for five days to one of three groups: (a) a group whose members switched to Ploom TECH (PT); (b) a group whose members continued to smoke their own brand of combustible cigarette (CC); or (c) a smoking abstinence group (SA).
    After the five-day study period, the levels of 15 biomarkers of exposure (BoEs) to selected HPHCs were found to have been significantly reduced in the PT group compared to those in the CC group.
    And, significantly, the magnitude of the reduction in BoE levels observed in the PT group was similar to that observed in the SA group.
    ‘The study results show that completely switching to Ploom TECH from combustible cigarettes leads to significant reductions in exposure to, and uptake into the body of, selected HPHCs,’ JT said in a note posted on its website. ‘Although further research is required, these results strongly support the potential of Ploom TECH use to reduce the health risks associated with smoking.’
    JT pointed out that, currently, there were no globally-agreed standards for assessing the relative risks to health associated with the use of different tobacco or other nicotine-containing products, though some countries had set guidelines in this field.
    ‘JT continues to engage in research and development to develop new methodologies to substantiate, through objective science, product risk reduction,’ the company said. ‘As we continue with our studies, we will communicate our progress via our science website – JT Science.’

  • NGP portfolio heating up

    NGP portfolio heating up

    Imperial Brands’ volume shipments of cigarettes and other tobacco products calculated as ‘stick equivalents’ (SE) during the 12 months to the end of September, at 255.5 billion, were down by 3.6 percent on those of the 12 months to the end of September 2017, 265.2 billion.
    Within that overall volume, US-market volume was down by five percent to 22.1 billion.
    In announcing its preliminary results for the year to the end of September, the company said that while its volume was down by 3.6 percent, it had outperformed industry volumes across its footprint.
    It had achieved share growth in many of its priority markets, while its Growth Brand share had risen by 0.7 of a percentage point.
    And it had enjoyed strong performances from ‘tobacco Specialist Brands: Backwoods, Kool, Rizla, Skruf and Premium Cigars’.
    An improved price/mix had delivered tobacco net revenue growth of 0.9 percent.
    Meanwhile, Imperial said it was delivering strong growth in next generation products focused on smoker conversion.
    It was delivering a satisfying, safer experience with a trusted brand, blu, supported by leading-edge science
    And it had a strong innovation pipeline focused on reduced risk products in the categories of vapor, heated tobacco and oral nicotine.
    Pulze, the company’s first heated tobacco product, was planned to be launched in early 2019.
    Tobacco and NGP (next generation products) net revenue was down by 0.3 percent, from £7,757 million to £7,730 million; tobacco and NGP adjusted operating profit was down by 1.1 percent, from £3,595 million to £3,557 million; distribution adjusted operating profit was increased by 17.3 percent from £181 million to £212 million; total adjusted operating profit was increased by 0.1 percent from £3,761 million to £3,766 million; and adjusted earnings per share were up by 1.9 percent from 267.0p to 272.2p.
    ‘FY18 was a successful year of delivery against our strategy and I’m pleased with the progress we are making in creating something better for the world’s smokers,’ said chief executive, Alison Cooper.
    ‘In NGP our main focus is on transitioning smokers to blu, a significantly less harmful alternative to cigarettes.
    ‘NGP also offers additive opportunities for our shareholders and the success of the international rollout of my blu has put us in a strong position to further invest and accelerate sales growth in FY19.
    ‘In tobacco we focus on providing smokers with an evolving portfolio of high-quality brands.
    ‘Following our additional brand investment in tobacco over the past two years, we have increased Growth Brand volume, share and revenue in our priority markets.
    ‘Our financial delivery was strong, with revenue and earnings growth, high cash generation and a further dividend increase of 10 percent.
    ‘Capital discipline remains central to all our activities, providing funds for investment and enhancing returns.
    ‘We have the strategy, assets and capabilities to realise the significant opportunities presented by a changing environment and to generate growing returns for our shareholders.’