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Tag: PMTA

  • FDA Authorizes Several NJOY Products

    FDA Authorizes Several NJOY Products

    Photo: NJOY

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on April 26 authorized four NJOY products through the premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway. The FDA issued marketing granted orders to NJOY for its Ace closed e-cigarette device and three accompanying tobacco-flavored e-liquid pods—NJOY Ace Pod Classic Tobacco 2.4 percent, NJOY Ace Pod Classic Tobacco 5 percent and NJOY Ace Pod Rich Tobacco 5 percent.

    The decision is significant because, unlike previous marketing orders—the FDA earlier authorized varieties of BAT’s Vuse Solo brand and Japan Tobacco International’s Logic e-cigarette—this one covers a product with a decent market share. While Vuse overall is a bestseller, the variety that received marketing approval in October 2021 is based on outdated technology and used by only a few people.

    According to Nielsen and analyst reports, which measure financial data typically from convenience stores (and not vape shops), NJOY is the third-largest vape manufacturer in the United States, holding a little more than 3 percent of the market.

    The most recent authorization is also the first for a brand not owned by a major tobacco firm.

    “Looking at the situation with rose-colored glasses, an independent pioneer like NJOY getting two nicotine vaping products through the convoluted FDA authorization process is something to celebrate,” Greg Conley, the president of the American Vaping Association, told Filter. “Unlike the only two other companies with authorizations, NJOY could not subsidize their applications with cigarette sales, so they were at a disadvantage from the start.”

    While authorizing NJOY Ace tobacco-flavored pods, the FDA rejected other Ace e-cigarette products. Applications for two menthol-flavored Ace e-liquid pods remain under FDA review.

    No flavored product has yet received FDA authorization, even though tobacco harm reduction advocates insist flavors are necessary to lure smokers away from combustible cigarettes. “The FDA’s current policy of denying all flavors and deferring action on menthol applications is evidence of just how broken the agency is,” Conley told Filter. “The FDA still has not accepted that millions of adult vapers will not be switching to tobacco flavors anytime in the future.”

    Under the PMTA pathway, the applicant must demonstrate to the FDA that marketing of the new tobacco product would be appropriate for the protection of the public health, the FDA explained in a statement. According to the agency, the authorized NJOY products were found to meet this standard because chemical testing was sufficient to determine that overall harmful and potentially harmful constituent (HPHC) levels in the aerosol of these products is lower than in combusted cigarette smoke.

    “Further, data provided by the applicant demonstrated that participants who had used only the authorized NJOY Ace products had lower levels of exposure to HPHCs compared to the dual users of the new products and combusted cigarettes,” the FDA wrote. “Therefore, these products have the potential to benefit adult smokers who switch completely or significantly reduce their cigarette consumption.”

  • FDA to Provide PMTA Updates Every Three Months

    FDA to Provide PMTA Updates Every Three Months

    Photo: Niroworld

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will be required to give premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) status reports every 90 days. The first reports are due on April 29, according to a revised order from District Judge Paul Grimm for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

    The revised order, signed on April 15, granted a motion filed by American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other plaintiffs that requires the FDA to “forecast the percentages of such products for which it expects to have taken ‘action’ by June 2022 and quarterly thereafter.” Subsequent reports will also be required to state any revisions to prior estimates.

    The order states that “covered applications” means all applications for newly deemed tobacco products “sold under the brand names Juul, Vuse, NJoy, Logic, Blu, Smok, Suorin or Puff Bar.” Additionally, any product with a reach of 2 percent of more (vaping product brands deemed to have the greatest public health impact) in “Retail & Sales” in Nielsen’s “Total E-cig Market & Players” or “Disposable E-Cig Market & Players.”

    The FDA has approved some products from Vuse and Logic, while denying applications for Blu’s Myblu products.

    The decision was expected by the vaping industry. Speaking during Keller and Heckman (K&H) annual E-Vapor and Tobacco Law Symposium Feb. 2–3, K&H Partner Azim Chowdhury said the FDA had appeared to concede to the requested requirement to submit status reports on many of the remaining submissions under review, adding that the updated requirements requested by the anti-vaping groups appeared to be even broader than the original.

    It’s been more than eight months since the 12-month continued compliance policy for products subject to timely submitted PMTAs ended, but the agency is still sitting on some 88,000 reviews, including some of the vaping products with the highest market shares as measured by Nielsen.

    Requiring the FDA to provide the status reports comes with some controversy. Chowdhury says that it wouldn’t be appropriate for the protection of public health (APPH) or positive for the vaping industry if a requirement for status updates forced the regulatory agency to make PMTA decisions only to appease the anti-vaping groups or politicians.

    “These status reports could be used as a tool to pressure FDA to act—i.e., deny— applications quickly,” Chowdhury told Tobacco Reporter’s sister publication Vapor Voice. “Rather, we want FDA to review the science carefully and take the time it needs to determine whether a particular product is APPH.”

    In November 2021, the anti-vaping organizations whose lawsuit brought forward the deadline for filing PMTAs asked U.S. District Judge Paul Grimm to reopen the case. The plaintiffs asked him to require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regularly report on the status of the applications for the 10 bestselling vapor brands according to Nielsen rankings.

  • FDA Urged to Act on Remaining Applications

    FDA Urged to Act on Remaining Applications

    Photo: New Africa

    Several anti-tobacco groups have sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration urging the agency to act on the outstanding premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) and pushing for the denial of all flavored e-cigarette products.

    It’s been more than four months since the FDA was supposed to decide which e-cigarette products can remain on the market, but the agency still hasn’t completed some of the reviews, including some of the bestselling e-cigarettes.

    “We write to urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite decisions on the premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) still pending before the agency involving the flavored e-cigarette products, including those with menthol flavoring and, based on the best available scientific evidence, deny the pending applications for all nontobacco flavored e-cigarettes in order to protect the nation’s young people from the health harms of these products,” the letter said.

    The letter was signed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Heart Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, among others.

    “Every day that FDA delays action, more of our kids remain at risk,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “While the FDA has ruled on applications from a lot of small companies, it hasn’t ruled on the applications from the large companies whose products are being used by a majority of kids.”

    American Vaping Association President Gregory Conley pointed to data showing that youth vaping has been declining. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), use of e-cigarettes went down among middle school and high school students from 2019 to 2020.

    But even with the drop, the CDC said it “estimated that more than 2 million U.S. middle [school] and high school students reported currently using e-cigarettes in 2021.”