Author: Barnaby Page
What would PMI’s takeover of Swedish Match mean for the sector?
Written by Barnaby Page || 12th May 2022 || Blog |
The $16bn takeover of Swedish Match by Philip Morris International (PMI) now seems more likely to happen than not (at least as of today; these things are never certain until the last signature is signed) ...
As US FDA moves towards a menthol ban, what might it mean for novel products?
Written by Barnaby Page || 5th May 2022 || Blog |
The long-mooted proposal to prohibit menthol is the most dramatic step the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken since the 2009 Tobacco Control Act exempted menthol from a general ban on flavoured tobacco ...
Why we don’t always get the science we need – and what can be done about it
Written by Barnaby Page || 20th April 2022 || Blog |
Is the present system of peer-reviewed journal publication of scientific papers the best way to get the best science – particularly in the controversial world of tobacco? There are those who think it may not be ...
Change is afoot at the US CTP and CDC – but what will it mean for tobacco?
Written by Barnaby Page || 8th April 2022 || Blog |
Michele Mital’s appointment as acting head of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) is not bad news for the industry, even if it’s not quite good news. And there may be bigger change at the Centers for Disease...
Harm reduction is a difficult but vital message to convey to the world’s poorest
Written by Barnaby Page || 31st March 2022 || Blog |
Broadening the appeal of tobacco harm reduction (THR) products in low- and middle-income countries can be an uphill struggle, though it arguably matters more there than anywhere else ...
Plenty of food for thought as nicotine researchers get their heads together
Written by Barnaby Page || 24th March 2022 || Blog |
The Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) published a huge number of research abstracts to accompany its annual get-together – here are some of the highlights ...
New study on nicotine pouches stresses importance of understanding products
Written by Barnaby Page || 10th March 2022 || Blog |
As the market for nicotine pouches swells, there is – just as with heated tobacco a few years ago – a risk that regulatory interest outpaces scientific research ...
What science should we be following on novel tobacco products – and how far?
Written by Barnaby Page || 2nd March 2022 || Blog , Regulatory briefing |
“Following the science” is one of the most misleading, clichés of the pandemic, and both advocates and enemies of novel tobacco products need to be cautious of claiming to do the same thing ...
How the success or failure of VLNCs could affect regulation of alternatives
Written by Barnaby Page || 3rd February 2022 || Blog , Regulatory briefing |
Acceptance by the US FDA of very-low-nicotine cigarettes as a modified risk product may be controversial, even bizarre, but it will be worth seeing how they perform in the market – and how that may affect future regulation...
Meta-analysis study emphasises the lack of high-quality research into HnB
Written by Barnaby Page || 13th January 2022 || Blog , Business briefing |
The heated tobacco sector has, compared with its cousin vapour, always suffered from a lack of scientific research and from the perception that most of what does exist is industry-funded ...
A boost for very-low-nicotine cigarettes as US FDA grants modified risk order
Written by Barnaby Page || 23rd December 2021 || Regulatory briefing |
The prospect of very-low-nicotine cigarettes becoming the next alternative product on the US market has come a significant step closer, with the FDA issuing modified risk orders for two products from 22nd Century Group ...
How will TPD3 deal with newly emerged products? Our survey offers a few clues
Written by Barnaby Page || 2nd December 2021 || Blog , Regulatory briefing |
Sooner or later the EU will have a new Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), and one of the big questions will be how it treats new product categories which barely existed at the time of TPD2 ...
Califf may hit the ground running – but which way will he go on nicotine?
Written by Barnaby Page || 18th November 2021 || Blog , Regulatory briefing |
Robert Califf's expected return to head the US FDA has excited plenty of attention in the world of e-cigarettes, but there’s been much less talk about the likely impact on heated tobacco, pouches and other novel nicotine products...
Three possible reasons for WHO decision to keep alternatives out of tobacco talks
Written by Barnaby Page || 4th November 2021 || Blog , Regulatory briefing |
Why won’t the World Health Organization (WHO) talk about tobacco alternatives? It’s never been shy before about putting forward its extreme scepticism ...
Decision on e-cigs shines some light on US FDA’s likely approach to alternatives
Written by Barnaby Page || 21st October 2021 || Blog , Regulatory briefing |
While the decision to give marketing authorisation to some RJ Reynolds relates specifically to e-cigarette products, it’s highly likely that much the same priorities will govern official thinking on other alternative products ...
What e-cigarette process tells us about the US FDA’s thinking on tobacco
Written by Barnaby Page || 7th October 2021 || Blog , Regulatory briefing |
Some light is now dawning on some truths long since suspected about the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s approach to tobacco-alternative products of all kinds through its cumbersome evaluation of e-cigarettes ...
False beliefs about tobacco alternatives are themselves a public health problem
Written by Barnaby Page || 23rd September 2021 || Blog , Business briefing |
“Misinformation poses a real threat to progress” in a major area of public health concern, we’re told – and this time it’s about the dangers of tobacco-alternative products ...
Time’s up for the US FDA to make up its mind – now where do PMTAs stand?
Written by Barnaby Page || 9th September 2021 || Blog , Regulatory briefing |
As the US Food and Drug Administration's deadline to pass or reject e-cigarette premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) arrives, where does it leave the market and what might it mean for tobacco alternatives? ...
Knee-jerk response as US AGs leap aboard the anti-flavours bandwagon
Written by Barnaby Page || 26th August 2021 || Blog , Regulatory briefing |
Are we really in the midst of a “pandemic” of oral nicotine use by young people, and if so is the answer a flavour ban? 31 US attorneys general have some answering of their own to do ...
Hardly any US teens use heated tobacco, but that doesn’t stop the fearmongering
Written by Barnaby Page || 12th August 2021 || Blog , Business briefing |
Despite heated tobacco products being barely available in the US, it is now officially the next monstrous threat facing America’s youth ...
Why is the boss of Marlboro maker PMI talking up the end of smoking days?
Written by Barnaby Page || 29th July 2021 || Blog , Business briefing |
Jacek Olczak, CEO of Philip Morris International (PMI), says the company could stop selling combustible cigarettes in the UK within a decade ...
PMI is busy reinventing itself as Big Tobacco prepares for life after smoking
Written by Barnaby Page || 15th July 2021 || Blog , Business briefing |
Philip Morris International (PMI) has always been one of the frankest tobacco companies when it comes to speaking of the smoke-free future – now it is taking positive steps in a bold new direction ...
The Japanese innovation that could help normalise heated tobacco everywhere
Written by Barnaby Page || 1st July 2021 || Blog , Business briefing |
A new development in Japan sets an example which proponents of harm reduction could do well to advocate elsewhere – the increasing trend toward heated-tobacco-only areas in public spaces ...
Could legalising snus tap into a huge potential for smoking cessation?
Written by Barnaby Page || 18th June 2021 || Blog , Business briefing |
Two startling statistics emerge from a recent survey of smokers in Europe: nearly one in three (31%) of current smokers would be interested in trying snus if it became legal, but less than 3% are actually snus users...
The WHO, the where and the why
Written by Barnaby Page || 4th June 2021 || Blog , Business briefing |
Advocates for novel tobacco products often get infuriated with the oppositional stance taken by the World Health Organization – but might there be some fair reason behind the WHO’s less-than-enthusiastic view? ...
Politicians and regulators just can’t stop thinking of the children
Written by Barnaby Page || 21st May 2021 || Blog , Business briefing |
News that Florida is planning to increase the purchase age for tobacco products to 21 is another clear indication of just how much the issues of youth smoking and youth vaping dominate the minds of politicians and regulators...
Will nicotine be the next menthol?
Written by Barnaby Page || 7th May 2021 || Blog , Business briefing |
The big news from the US Food and Drug Administration last week was a ban on menthol in combustible cigarettes, closing off a loophole that had allowed this one flavour to be marketed even after all others were forbidden. It...
EU anti-cancer plan accused of ‘shutting the door’ on smokers trying to quit
Written by Barnaby Page || 16th March 2021 || Regulatory briefing |
As European health ministers met to discuss the EU’s Beating Cancer Plan, one influential organisation has pleaded for a rethink of its attitude toward alternative nicotine products ...
Ban public use, advertising and reduced-risk claims for HnB, says WHO group
Written by Barnaby Page || 31st December 2020 || Regulatory briefing |
All advertising and public use of heated tobacco systems should be banned by governments, a World Health Organization (WHO) committee has suggested ...
Tobacco giants go to law in bid to stop US FDA imposing graphic warnings
Written by Barnaby Page || 10th April 2020 || Regulatory briefing |
The US tobacco industry is resisting another attempt by the FDA to impose graphic health warnings, claiming in a lawsuit that mandatory warnings would violate their rights under the First Amendment ...
Studies find reduced nicotine strength doesn’t lead to increased smoking
Written by Barnaby Page || 9th March 2020 || Regulatory briefing |
Further evidence that reducing the amount of nicotine in combustibles does not lead to heavier smoking may provide encouragement for those who want to see reductions legally mandated ...
US FDA opens up nicotine toothpick question with health claim warning
Written by Barnaby Page || 21st February 2020 || Regulatory briefing |
Recent action by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) against a maker of nicotine-infused toothpicks highlights an obscure corner of the tobacco-alternatives business – consisting of products which are not vapour, heated tobacco or snus ...
PMI is cleared of misleading investors over Japanese prospects for Iqos
Written by Barnaby Page || 17th February 2020 || Regulatory briefing |
Philip Morris International (PMI) did not deliberately mislead investors about clinical trials for its Iqos heated tobacco system or about the product’s prospects in Japan, a US federal court has ruled ...
EU states give a big thumbs up to tax harmony on heated tobacco and e-cigs
Written by Barnaby Page || 12th February 2020 || Regulatory briefing |
The European Union’s member states overwhelmingly want harmonised tax policies across the EU for both heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes ...
So this is Brexit – but what does it mean for tobacco law, now or later?
Written by Barnaby Page || 3rd February 2020 || Regulatory briefing |
As the UK exits Europe and enters its 11-month period of transition, what does Brexit actually mean for cross-Channel relationships, and for tobacco harm reduction? ...
WHO’s stance on harm reduction report needs updating, says report
Written by Barnaby Page || 24th January 2020 || Regulatory briefing |
A change of mind by the World Health Organization (WHO) is essential if the potential of tobacco harm reduction is to be fully achieved, according to a new report from British advocacy group Knowledge•Action•Change ...
Giants reunited? What will PMI-Altria re-merger mean for the market?
Written by Barnaby Page || 5th September 2019 || Business briefing |
TobaccoIntelligence considers the effects the possible re-merger of Philip Morris International (PMI) and Altria might have on the combustible and alternatives markets in the US and beyond ...
Nicotine, the US surgeon general, and the true science of addiction
Written by Barnaby Page || 11th February 2019 || Regulatory briefing |
Is nicotine really as addictive as heroin, as the US surgeon general claims? And what does that really mean, anyway? ECigIntelligence pits the scientific evidence against the easy soundbite ...
UK budget includes new tax on heated tobacco at higher than expected rate
Written by Barnaby Page || 30th October 2018 || Regulatory briefing |
The UK will next year introduce one of Europe’s highest taxes for heated tobacco (heat-not-burn) products, following an announcement in the Chancellor’s...
Heated tobacco versus e-cigarettes: what does the future hold?
Written by Barnaby Page || 17th April 2018 || Market reports |
Heated tobacco is grabbing headlines, but what else will it seize? We examine a number of market and regulatory scenarios with greatly differing outcomes for both heat-not-burn products and...
Public Health England blames the media for giving vaping a bad name
Written by Barnaby Page || 7th February 2018 || Regulatory briefing |
The latest evidence review by Public Health England credits e-cigs with helping 20,000 people a year quit smoking, and blames distorted media reporting for that figure not being a lot...
FDA committee rejects two IQOS MRTP claims, approves one
Written by Barnaby Page || 25th January 2018 || Regulatory briefing |
Agency’s science committee agrees that PMI product decreases exposure to dangerous chemicals, but won’t accept broader claims of long-term risk...
Reynolds asks FDA to give Camel Snus products ‘modified risk’ status
Written by Barnaby Page || 19th December 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will have to consider again next year the possibility that snus could be a reduced-risk form of tobacco, following a series of applications from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company ...
Global health group calls for HnB restrictions until science is proven
Written by Barnaby Page || 19th December 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease has called for the advertising and indoor use of heat-not-burn (HnB) products to be banned until sufficient independent research has been conducted to confirm their...
HnB v e-cigs – UK toxicity committee wants to see how they match up
Written by Barnaby Page || 18th December 2017 || Regulatory briefing |
The UK government committee which this month concluded that heat-not-burn products are safer than combustibles now wants to compare them to...
Japan’s online searches for HnB outstrip American interest in vaping
Written by Barnaby Page || 16th October 2017 || Business briefing |
The number of Google searches in Japan for topics related to heat-not-burn has rocketed, illustrating how rapidly the new nicotine technology has gained ground in that...
FDA rejects snus as modified risk – but could reconsider some aspects
Written by Barnaby Page || 14th December 2016 || Regulatory briefing |
Swedish Match has at last obtained some answers from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on its attempt to have snus smokeless tobacco products classified as modified risk ...