Tag: IQOS

IQOS Marks 10th Anniversary

Photo: vfhnb12
Philip Morris International marked the 10th anniversary of the introduction of its IQOS tobacco heating product.
Tobacco harm reduction advocates credit the availability of heated tobacco products such as IQOS with lowering rates of traditional smoking. In Japan—the first market where IQOS was launched in 2014—cigarette smoking prevalence dropped from 19.6 percent of all adults in 2024 to 10.6 percent in 2022. According to PMI, the country continues to have the highest number of heated-tobacco-product users, and tobacco prevalence has not increased since they were introduced.
A decade after it was launched in Japan, IQOS now generates over $10 billion of PMI’s annual net revenues, the product is available in over 70 markets worldwide, and 30.8 million adults use it.
“With the debut of IQOS, we launched PMI’s vision of a smoke-free company, creating an opportunity to solve the problem of smoking,” said PMI CEO Jacek Olczak in a statement.
“Every day, IQOS demonstrates its potential for this, as evidenced by the approximately 22 million adults around the world who have fully switched to it and stopped smoking. IQOS is the world’s leading smoke-free product, and we are committed to continuing to lead the way to a future where better alternatives have completely replaced cigarettes, while moving forward to become a predominantly smoke-free company by 2030.”
November 28, 2024
Austin Smokers Invited to Join IQOS Wait List

Photo: momius
Philip Morris International will hold several events in Austin, Texas, this weekend, to mark the upcoming introduction of its IQOS tobacco heating product in the United States.
In anticipation of launch, current nicotine users who are over the age of 21 and live in designated areas of Austin will be given the opportunity to join a wait list to be among the first to try IQOS once the product becomes available.
“We believe having a portfolio of satisfying alternatives can help traditional tobacco users switch completely and walk away from cigarettes for good,” said Stacey Kennedy, CEO of PMI in the U.S. operations “Austin is a hotbed for innovators, entrepreneurs and trailblazers. Cultural trends adopted here have a ripple effect, so it was a natural place to introduce IQOS in the U.S.”

Austin is a hotbed for innovators, entrepreneurs and trailblazers. Cultural trends adopted here have a ripple effect, so it was a natural place to introduce IQOS in the U.S.
Stacey Kennedy, CEO of PMI’s U.S. business
The (re)introduction of tobacco-heating products into the U.S. has been eagerly awaited by investors and tobacco harm reduction advocates, who hope the product will help transition smokers from deadly combustible cigarettes to less-harmful heating products. Tests suggest that heating tobacco produces lower levels of harmful chemicals than burning it. IQOS has been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a modified-risk tobacco product.
In Tobacco Reporter’s October issue, Cheryl Olson reflects on how the launch of tobacco heating products may impact the U.S. market.
IQOS was briefly test-marketed by PMI’s former U.S. partner, Altria Group. In September 2021, the International Trade Commission determined that the product infringed patents owned by British American Tobacco and barred IQOS imports.
PMI and BAT subsequently resolved their intellectual property dispute, clearing the way for IQOS sales in the U.S. In October 2022, PMI reclaimed the U.S. commercialization rights to IQOS, saying Altria had failed to meet certain milestones stipulated in their agreement.
IQOS is already available in about 80 countries, and since launching in Japan 10 years ago, it has helped more than 22 million people worldwide make the switch from cigarettes, according to PMI. A 2019 study by researchers at the American Cancer Society showed that cigarette sales decreased five times faster after IQOS was introduced in Japan.
IQOS is now PMI’s top revenue earner, surpassing the company’s bestselling Marlboro cigarette brand.
PMI’s latest integrated report shows that 38 percent of the company’s total net revenue now comes from its smoke-free business, which also includes the popular Zyn nicotine pouches .
“For the first time in history, smoke-free products have surpassed cigarette combustibles,” PMI CEO Jacek Olczak said at the Technovation event on Oct. 9 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, according to Malaya Business Insight.
October 19, 2024
Battery Law Forces IQOS from Kiwi Store Shelves

Photo: vfhnb12
Philip Morris International pulled its IQOS tobacco heating device from New Zealand store shelves after a new law took effect requiring vaping devices to have removable batteries, reports RNZ. Tobacco heating products (THPs) are classified as e-cigarettes in New Zealand.
RNZ says it has seen PMI emails sent to suppliers saying IOQS is “unavailable for purchase due to a regulatory change on 1 October 2024 affecting vaping devices.” In a statement, the multinational said it always complies with all necessary regulations, including on electronic devices.
IQOS consumables, known as Heatsticks, remain available for sale in New Zealand.
The news follows controversy about Associate Health Minister Casey Costello’s July announcement of a 50 percent cut to THP excise taxes—a move that critics say benefits only PMI, which is the sole supplier of the products in New Zealand.
Costello argues the tax cut will encourage smokers to switch to THPs, which are believed to be less harmful than combustible cigarettes. Costello’s plan is to have more than 7,000 people switch to THPs, which she sees as a tool to achieve New Zealand’s smoking reduction targets.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has backed Costello, telling RNZ the excise tax cut plan was a 12 month trial to “see how it goes” with HTPs lowering smoking rates.
Health advocates have accused the ruling coalition of caving to pressure from tobacco lobbyists. In late 2023, the government scrapped the country’s controversial generational tobacco ban, which would have prohibited tobacco products for people born after 2009.
In a briefing published Jan. 31 by the Public Health Communications Center, three University of Otago public health academics highlight links between government members of parliament and the tobacco industry.
October 2, 2024
Warm Reception?

Photo: Ina
How heated tobacco might change the US
By Cheryl K. Olson
A new kind of nicotine alternative is sidling back onto the U.S. market. Modern heated-tobacco products (HTPs) were gone before most Americans knew they even existed. After a limited test, a patent dispute took them off U.S. shelves in 2021.
The gradual return of HTPs has just begun, with a single brand. Within a few years, Americans will likely have access to multiple options now sold in other nations.
Conversations with a close family friend, a former pack-a-day smoker, piqued my interest in the potential of heated tobacco. While working for the European Union from Spain, he had sought out and rejected cigarette alternatives, from vapes to nicotine gum. For him, heated tobacco was a “radically different” revelation.
“It soothed my needs. It felt right and reassuring,” he told me. “From the moment I bought my IQOS, in 2017, I never smoked a cigarette again.”
Here’s a quick introduction to heated tobacco and its potential to attract and benefit Americans who smoke.
What HTPs Are and Aren’t
I asked Corey Henry, director of U.S. communications at Philip Morris International, to help me understand this product category. Basically, an HTP involves electronically heating a stick or capsule of tobacco to beneath the point of combustion, so it releases an aerosol but doesn’t burn. The design of the heating element varies.
The primary difference between an HTP and an e-cigarette? “A heated-tobacco product has to have some tobacco presence, whether it’s a leaf or paste,” says Henry.
HTP ancestors included Premier and Eclipse from R.J. Reynolds. These products were not electronic. The heat came from lighting a carbon tip (which glowed like a piece of charcoal on a barbecue); it was distributed through a rod. This approach did reduce some toxicants. PMI introduced the first electronic HTPs, including Accord in the U.S. and Heatbar in Germany.
According to the Financial Times, HTPs have enjoyed steady worldwide growth, exceeding that of vaping. The global HTP retail market value is estimated to reach $38.9 billion this year. The largest markets thus far include Japan, Italy and South Korea. In addition to IQOS, major brands include BAT’s Glo and Japan Tobacco’s Ploom.
American Evolution
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration first authorized the marketing of an IQOS “heat-not-burn” system in 2019. This included a holder and charger device plus several types of heated-tobacco units, called Heatsticks. That year, IQOS was gradually introduced in several Southeastern U.S. test markets by Philip Morris USA/Altria. Due to a dispute with R.J. Reynolds over technology patent infringement, IQOS left the U.S. market after just two years.
In early 2024, PMI took over from Altria the exclusive U.S. commercialization rights to the IQOS tobacco-heating system. After some delay, the IQOS3 model (authorized by the FDA in 2021) will test-launch in Austin, Texas, this fall. Henry noted that internationally, IQOS launches usually start in one or two cities. “You can make assumptions going in, but then you’ve got to test those assumptions and adjust, adapt.”
The national rollout of IQOS awaits the FDA’s OK of the latest evolution of IQOS, called Iluma. Applications were submitted to the FDA in October 2023; marketing authorization is anticipated in the second half of 2025. Iluma features various upgrades, including a slightly different heating technology and distinctive tobacco sticks. IQOS Iluma is available internationally in over two dozen markets.
“There’s a great level of interest to see how IQOS does in the U.S., so they want to see it launch and expand rapidly,” says Henry. “What we say is patience. There’s 28 million smokers, there’s 50 states—it’s basically like the European Union.”
U.S. HTP competitors are on the horizon. For example, a BAT submission for Glo has been under FDA review since 2021, along with a modified-risk tobacco product application submitted in 2023. Altria has partnered with JT Group to submit a PMTA to the FDA with the goal of bringing Ploom to the U.S.
The FDA’s list of authorized e-cigarettes includes a Logic Vapeleaf product that vaporizes capsules that contain tobacco. This is technically a heated-tobacco product. The product appears to be no longer marketed.
Attractions and Risks
One reason for a slow U.S. rollout is the low level of familiarity with heated tobacco. People need to get clear on the basics: It generates an aerosol; it doesn’t burn tobacco.
“There’s always an initial period of awareness and education that you have to do with adults who smoke, to help them understand what it is and what it isn’t,” says Henry. “When people hear the concept, the reaction is, ‘So … it’s like vaping?’”
We don’t even know how much awareness or confusion may exist. A large government survey fielded in May 2019 asked whether adults had heard of or tried heated-tobacco products (or heat-not-burn). Overall, 8.6 percent said they had heard of heated tobacco, and one-half of 1 percent had tried it. Here’s the catch: The brands mentioned in the survey questions were IQOS, Glo and Eclipse. Respondents who claimed knowledge of heated tobacco were likely thinking of the outdated Eclipse.
Responses to the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey are another example. One percent of respondents (representing 370,000 teens) claimed to have used an HTP. Given that the category was not sold anywhere in the U.S. at the time, this is impossible; it can only be a misunderstanding. The next few youth surveys in the U.S. will require cautious interpretation of this topic.
What makes us think people who smoke will switch to HTPs? Randomized controlled studies have shown that vaping works to help people stop smoking, even those without plans to quit. For HTPs, we’re not there yet. That kind of evidence would raise the comfort level of health professionals and public health advocates. An Italian trial found good results for HTPs, comparable to e-cigarettes, for smoking cessation.
Japan makes a good test of HTPs’ potential; sales of e-cigarettes are restricted, and oral products are culturally unappealing. Reduced-risk products are reportedly close to 40 percent of total tobacco industry volume in Japan, with cigarette sales nearly halved since 2015. The latest estimates suggest nearly 12 percent of adults use HTPs. It’s less clear yet how many switch completely from cigarettes to HTPs.
According to Henry, PMI’s research finds that internationally, about 72 percent of smokers who switch to IQOS do so fully. He anticipates similar results in the U.S.
Do people have lower exposure to some toxicants and carcinogens when they use HTPs instead of cigarettes? A Cochrane review of randomized controlled trials found moderate-certainty evidence for that. Also, the FDA authorized IQOS 2.4 and 3.0 versions to be marketed with reduced-exposure messaging. Specifically, “Scientific studies have shown that switching completely from conventional cigarettes to the IQOS system significantly reduces your body’s exposure to harmful or potentially harmful chemicals.”
‘Easier to Navigate’
HTPs are designed to mimic the physical sensations of smoking. “We think that bridge is a little easier to navigate with heated tobacco because there’s a level of familiarity,” says Henry. For example, “Your experience with an IQOS heat stick is six minutes or 14 puffs, about the same time that a smoker will smoke a cigarette.”
Due to this familiarity, my friend in Spain found switching to heated tobacco a quick and smooth adjustment. “With a coffee, when talking with someone, the routine in which I use IQOS is identical to my routine when I smoked,” he said. He learned to keep an extra charger at his office and in his car.
“The charger you hold in your hand has a very nice feel,” he said. “It’s light, it fits anywhere. So I didn’t miss having a cigarette in my hand,” he said. He also praised the absence of stale smoke smell in his home, car and clothing.
What else might attract Americans to heated tobacco? One U.K. survey of nicotine users found that common reasons for trying HTPs included curiosity; lack of smell, smoke and ashes; greater social acceptability; wanting to cut down or quit cigarette use; and enjoying the flavors or taste.
A Harm Reduction Journal study of the U.S. IQOS experience found that people who switched to the initial version were somewhat more educated and higher-income than the average smoking adult. That’s not unusual for early adopters of a new technology. It will be interesting to see how use patterns evolve as people get familiar with the device and see others switch to it.
A Role to Play
Some health advocacy groups have criticized PMI’s claims, suggesting that benefits of IQOS had been overstated. I’ve often wondered how my public health colleagues would view vaping if it had been framed differently at the start. Vaping burst into wide awareness as the subject of a youth-use moral panic. That first impression is hard to overcome. I applaud a careful, gradual, unflashy U.S. reintroduction for HTPs.
As one industry observer pointed out to me, the few e-cigarettes now authorized for sale by the FDA represent older technologies. New HTP technologies entering the market may benefit from that contrast. Another unknown affecting the fate of HTPs is whether sticks will be taxed like cigarettes or at a lower rate that encourages switching.
Now that nondeadly alternatives to smoking exist, it’s critical to speed up switching for those who can’t or don’t want to quit. More options are most welcome.
“There really isn’t a silver-bullet solution for smoke-free product alternatives,” says Henry. “It’s important that we distinguish heated tobacco from e-vapor, but in a way that isn’t disparaging. They each have a role to play.”
Cheryl K. Olson is a California-based public health researcher who specializes in behavioral health issues and consults on tobacco product behaviors via McKinney Regulatory Science Advisors. She spent 15 years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School.

October 1, 2024
Testing the Waters
Philip Morris International is getting ready to reintroduce IQOS in the US.

By Stefanie Rossel
During its 2024 second-quarter financial results presentation on July 23, Philip Morris International at last confirmed the long-awaited reintroduction of its IQOS heated-tobacco product (HTP) in the U.S. In the fourth quarter of this year, the company will start test marketing its IQOS3 device in Austin, Texas, according to PMI Chief Financial Officer Emmanuel Babeau.
A large-scale launch of IQOS, he stressed, will take place only after the Food and Drug Administration has authorized PMI’s most recent model, IQOS Iluma, which the company expects to happen in the second half of 2025.
The company submitted premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) and modified-risk tobacco product (MRTP) applications for Iluma in October 2023. Until Iluma’s FDA marketing authorization, Babeau said, the company will sell its IQOS3 model in only a few U.S. cities, primarily to fine-tune its approach in anticipation of the nationwide introduction of IQOS Iluma.
Once it has secured FDA approval for Iluma, the company will apply the IQOS marketing strategy that has been successful internationally, with some tweaks for the U.S. market. Among other things, this will involve engaging with consumers to explain the product, creating a dedicated sales force and setting up its own points of sale.
The launch will be PMI’s second attempt to establish IQOS in the U.S. In April 2019, the company assigned the exclusive commercialization rights of the brand to Altria, which then launched IQOS in Atlanta and Richmond in the fourth quarter of 2019. One-and-a-half years later, IQOS was available in Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. But plans for further commercialization were interrupted when the International Trade Commission (ITC) upheld a claim by BAT that IQOS products infringed two patents owned by British Tobacco America Group.
In September 2021, the ITC ordered Philip Morris and Altria to stop importing and selling IQOS models 2.4, 3 and 3 Duo and their respective heat sticks. PMI then agreed to pay Altria $2.7 billion to take back the U.S. commercialization rights of IQOS as of April 30, 2024. In February 2024, PMI and BAT resolved all ongoing intellectual property disputes related to the former company’s HTP and vapor products.
In 2020 and 2022, the FDA issued modified-risk granted orders for IQOS model 2.4 and model 3, respectively, as well as for three heat stick variants. These orders are valid for a fixed period. To continue marketing the MRTPs after the authorized term, the company in May 2024 applied to renew its IQOS3 exposure modification order.

IQOS is the only HTP in the U.S. that has been granted not only a PMTA but also MRTP authorization.
Pieter Vorster, managing director, Idwala Research
Market With Potential
PMI’s selection of Austin for its 2024 pilot may be a smart move, according to Pieter Vorster, managing director of Idwala Research. “Austin is known for having a vibrant tech industry, attracting young, tech-savvy people open to new technologies and innovation,” he says. “I suspect that the regulatory environment might also be somewhat less restrictive. Furthermore, PMI likely wanted to have a clean slate concerning product awareness.”
Furthermore, Texas has a low cigarette tax rate, and IQOS will be taxed there as cigarettes, which will give PMI a clue how the product would perform when taxed similarly to cigarettes, according to TobaccoIntelligence. A progressive university town in an otherwise conservative state, the city also provides a unique variety of demographics. “This likely means that PMI will be able to assess IQOS’ attractiveness to an array of adult testers in a small area,” says Vorster.
Expectations are high for IQOS’ nationwide rollout. Euromonitor expects the market for smokeless tobacco and smokeless alternatives to increase from $23.49 billion in 2022 to $32.05 billion in 2027, eating into the share of traditional cigarettes. The company predicts that the value of cigarettes, which currently account for most tobacco product sales, will drop by 30 percent from $97.80 billion to $68.37 billion during that period. Investors are waiting to see whether PMI can create a heated-tobacco market in a country where vapes dominate the sales of electronic nicotine-delivery systems.
Vorster is optimistic, noting that the U.S. with its nearly 30 million smokers is significant for PMI’s transition strategy toward a smoke-free future. “The U.S. is one of the largest and most profitable markets for nicotine products globally,” he says. “Since PMI has no presence in cigarettes, it won’t be cannibalizing its own cigarette business. IQOS is the only HTP in the U.S. that has been granted not only a PMTA but also MRTP authorization by the FDA. Furthermore, very few vaping products have been given PMTAs, although this benefit is clouded by the rampant sales of illicit disposable vapes.”
PMI aims to capture 10 percent of U.S. tobacco and HTP unit volume by 2030. While he does not consider the 10 percent target overly ambitious, Vorster lists a few caveats. “Vapers are unlikely to switch to an HTP as they would view it as a regressive step, closer to going back to smoking,” he says. “However, this could be influenced by the regulatory environment. If the current pace of PMTAs for vaping products is maintained and the sale of illicit, disposable vapes can be reduced significantly—which is unlikely in my view—then some vapers might be motivated to switch to IQOS. In the absence of what I described, new IQOS consumers will likely come from the smoking population, where the relatively high average nicotine content of cigarettes sold in the U.S. represents a significant hurdle for HTPs and, in particular, for the IQOS products that are currently authorized in the U.S.”
If the U.S. bans menthol cigarettes, notes Vorster, the smokers of those products could represent a significant potential source of new IQOS consumers, provided IQOS’ menthol variants are allowed to stay on the market.
Stepping Up Production
In its second-quarter results, PMI estimated that more than 36 million people globally use the company’s smoke-free products. In the first half of 2024, PMI’s volume growth was driven by smoke-free products. The company shipped 68.7 billion HTP consumables units, an increase of 16.8 percent versus the previous year. This compares to 300.8 billion cigarettes, which grew by a mere 0.1 percent year-on-year. Shipments of oral smoke-free products increased 27.4 percent compared to 2023, up to 8.4 billion units. Zyn, PMI’s modern oral nicotine product, which became part of its portfolio through the company’s 2022 acquisition of Swedish Match, has grown exponentially and now dominates the U.S. nicotine pouch category. The product is so popular that PMI has been struggling to keep up with demand.
However, Zyn has also attracted regulatory scrutiny. In response to a subpoena from the District of Columbia attorney, PMI in June suspended online sales of flavored Zyn variants on its U.S. website. In March, a law group in California filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming that PMI is targeting children and young adults with its flavored nicotine pouches.
“Given the current trajectory and historical parallels with Juul, Zyn’s future will involve navigating through heightened regulatory scrutiny and social challenges,” says Vorster. “PMI’s ability to adapt its strategies, ensure regulatory compliance and address public concerns will be pivotal. If PMI can successfully manage these issues, Zyn could stabilize and continue to grow, albeit at a potentially slower pace. However, if the regulatory and legal pressures intensify, PMI might face significant hurdles that could hinder Zyn’s market expansion and profitability.”
Swedish Match filed for a PMTA for Zyn in March 2020, but as of August 2024, the FDA had not decided on this application. “The delay in the FDA’s response to Zyn’s PMTA is likely due to a combination of high application volumes, resource constraints and the complexity of the review process,” says Vorster. “Current issues such as social backlash, regulatory scrutiny and legal challenges will significantly impact the FDA’s decision, potentially leading to more stringent regulations and conditions for approval. The FDA’s continued reliance on a scientific study that concluded that nicotine is harmful to developing brains means that products that are perceived to have youth appeal will find it hard to get approved as ‘for the protection of public health.’”
While the regulatory approval process is outside its control, PMI has started tackling the product shortages by investing in production. On July 16, the company announced that it would invest $600 million to open a manufacturing facility in Aurora, Colorado, to produce Zyn pouches. The plant is expected to start preliminary operations in late 2025 and regular production in 2026. It will create 500 jobs. PMI is also increasing production of Zyn at its Owensboro, Kentucky site. Apart from meeting U.S. demand, the investments will help create capacity for export, the company said.
Stefanie Rossel is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial contributor. An experienced trade journalist, she combines sharp reporting skills with in-depth knowledge of the tobacco and vapor industries. Prior to joining Tobacco Reporter, Stefanie was editor-in-chief at Tobacco Journal International, where she worked for a decade. Fluent in English, German and French, Stefanie covers tobacco news around the world. She is based in Germany.

September 1, 2024
Activists Slam Cellulose Heat Sticks

Photo: Kuznyechova Yevgenia
Anti-tobacco activists contend that Philip Morris International is trying to circumvent the Dutch ban on flavored tobacco and vape products with its Levia heat sticks, reports Dutch News.
Made with cellulose rather than tobacco, Levia heat sticks are considered an herbal product and are thus not covered by the country’s tobacco legislation. The sticks retail online for €6.60 ($7.21) per pack of 20 and are sold in two flavors—“island beat,” which is menthol, and berry-flavored “electro-rouge.”
The Netherlands banned menthol in cigarettes in May 2020 and outlawed flavored vape products in early 2024.
Campaign group Rookvrije Generatie says Levia is “a trick” to keep on selling smoking products with flavor. “They might not contain tobacco, but they are packed with addictive nicotine,” spokesman Dave Krajenbrink was quoted as saying.
Legislators are reportedly considering an amendment that would extend the flavor ban to tobacco-free nicotine products.
August 6, 2024
IQOS’ U.S. Launch Postponed

Photo: A Stockphoto
Philip Morris International has postponed the test launch of its IQOS heated-tobacco device in the U.S. to the fourth quarter, reports Reuters. The company declined to say why.
The pilot was earlier scheduled to run in Austin, Texas, in the second quarter, for which the company reported results on the day.
Anti-tobacco activists have been seeking to derail the U.S. introduction of IQOS, arguing among other things that PMI exaggerates the number of people who have quit smoking regular cigarettes using IQOS.
In a joint letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration dated June 27, six health groups cited yet-to-be published independent studies contradicting PMI’s findings about how many IQOS users completely switch to the device from cigarettes.
Meanwhile, PMI said the impact of the EU ban on flavored heated tobacco in the European Union has had a “slightly greater” impact on IQOS sales than previously assumed.
This led the company to temper its expectations for volume growth in the heated-tobacco category to around 13 percent for the full year, down from between 14 percent and 16 percent expected earlier.
July 24, 2024
Arab and Orthodox Media Friendlier to IQOS

Image: Fallen Satan
Arab media and Ultra-Orthodox media in Israel are portraying Philip Morris International’s IQOS tobacco-heating device in a more positive light than do the mainstream media and media aimed at the general public, reports The Jerusalem Post, citing a study by researchers from the Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the Hebrew University-Hadassah and George Washington University.
According to the authors, Arab media articles reflected content from PMI press releases 100 percent of the time while general public media articles used content from PMI press releases 35 percent of the time. Arab media articles also highlighted the accessibility of IQOS retail locations 81 percent of the time compared to 17 percent and 13 percent in the general and haredi media, respectively. Social benefits were highlighted 88 percent of the time in Arab articles compared to 8 percent in the general media and 17 percent in haredi media.
Israel prohibits tobacco product advertising except in print media. The study found, however, that news media can influence consumer perceptions and behaviors, especially through certain types of news articles that are not always subject to the same regulations as paid advertisements.
“The study underscores the critical need for rigorous media surveillance and regulatory measures, especially in media outlets targeting minority populations, to ensure fair and balanced reporting,” said senior author Hagai Levine in a statement.
“The positive framing of IQOS in minority-targeted media highlights the potential influence of targeted marketing on public perceptions and tobacco product usage across diverse demographics.”
July 19, 2024
Health Groups Contest IQOS Quit Rates

Photo: Arkadiusz Fajer
Anti-tobacco activists are questioning Philip Morris International’s figures on the number of people who have quit smoking using the company’s bestselling heat-not-burn device, IQOS, reports Reuters.
The move comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering PMI’s application for renewal of its IQOS3 exposure modification order, along with the company’s premarket tobacco product applications for IQOS Iluma and request for permission to make reduced exposure claims for that product.
In a joint letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, dated June 27, six health groups, including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Lung Association, cited yet-to-be published independent studies contradicting PMI’s findings about how many IQOS users completely switch to the device from cigarettes.
According to letter writers, the International Tobacco Control Project (ITC) at Canada’s University of Waterloo found a far lower rate of IQOS users had quit smoking in Japan and Korea than estimates from PMI.
PMI estimates more than seven out of 10 of its registered IQOS customers globally have quit cigarettes. A 2023 PMI application to the FDA emphasized that the majority of IQOS users were using IQOS exclusively.
However, the ITC’s researchers put the percentage of all IQOS users that had quit smoking at just 15 percent in Japan and 30 percent in Korea in 2021.
Users most commonly used IQOS and cigarettes simultaneously, often leading to an overall increase in tobacco consumption, the ITC researchers found.
PMI pointed to a 2019 Japanese government health survey, where 75 percent of respondents who reported using heated tobacco said they did not smoke.
However, a paper published this year, led by researchers from Georgetown University, highlighted flaws in the government’s survey, including changes to the question format that can lead to under-reporting of smoking.
Other surveys have also found higher rates of dual use than the government, it said.
In addition to questioning the smoking cessation rates quoted by PMI, the health groups accused the multinational of making deceptive statements wrongly suggesting that the FDA has found IQOS reduced the risk of disease, citing examples of such statements in the U.S., Kazakhstan, the Philippines and Mexico.
A PMI spokesperson told Reuters the language flagged by campaigners was, in the company’s view, compatible with the FDA’s orders.
“Wherever we discuss our science and our products, we do so in accordance with all applicable laws,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
July 16, 2024
MRTP Renewal Application Filed
Photo: elenavah
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on May 9 filed for scientific review modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) renewal applications submitted by Philip Morris Products for the following IQOS products:
IQOS 2.4 System Holder and Charger
IQOS 3.0 System Holder and Charger
Marlboro Amber HeatSticks (formerly named Marlboro HeatSticks)
Marlboro Green Menthol HeatSticks (formerly named Marlboro Smooth Menthol HeatSticks)
Marlboro Blue Menthol HeatSticks (formerly named Marlboro Fresh Menthol HeatSticks)
In 2020 and 2022, the FDA issued modified risk granted orders for products. These orders are valid for a fixed time period. To continue marketing the MRTPs after the authorized term, the company submitted MRTP renewal applications to FDA.
Starting May 10, 2024, people may submit public comments on these applications on regulations.gov to docket FDA-2021-N-0408 for the IQOS 3.0 device and docket FDA-2017-D-3001 for the IQOS 2.4 device and the Marlboro HeatSticks products.
The FDA will post application documents, including amendments; given that the documents will need to be redacted for any confidential information, they will be posted on the Center for Tobacco Products’ website on a rolling basis.
Once all materials for these MRTP applications, including amendments, have been made publicly available, FDA will announce a closing date for the comment period. The closing date will be no earlier than 180 days from the date of the Federal Register notice and at least 30 days from the date FDA posts the last application materials.
May 10, 2024