FDA Issues MDO for Tobacco-Flavored Bidi Stick
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a marketing denial order (MDO) to Bidi Vapor LLC for its Bidi Stick classic e-cigarette. The Bidi Stick is a closed-system, disposable, tobacco-flavored vaping device.
“FDA has a key role to protect the public from the dangers of tobacco use,” said Matthew Farrelly, director of the Office of Science within FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). “Integral to that role, our tobacco application review process relies on scientific evidence that demonstrates a product provides a net benefit to public health that outweighs the known risks. The science in this application did not show that.”
The company must not market or distribute this product in the United States or they risk FDA enforcement action. The company may submit a new application to the agency for review that addresses these deficiencies.
After reviewing the company’s PMTA, the FDA determined that the application lacked sufficient evidence to demonstrate that permitting marketing of the product would be appropriate for the protection of the public health, which is the standard legally required by the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, an FDA press release states. Specifically, evidence submitted by the applicant did not demonstrate an overall net benefit to people who use tobacco products and lacked sufficient evidence to address health risks.
“The Center has made considerable progress in reviewing the massive volume of tobacco product applications submitted to the agency, thanks to the tireless efforts of our dedicated legion of civil servant scientists,” said Brian King, director of the CTP. “The Center remains committed to processing submitted applications as expeditiously as possible while ensuring the utmost scientific integrity of the reviews.”
Kavial Brands, the manufacturer of Bidi Stick, is expected to appeal the decision.
China-based Shenzhen IVPS, the parent to SMOK brand vaping devices, filed an appeal with the New Orleans, Louisiana-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit after it received an MDO and was joined in the suit by a Dallas, Texas-based distributor of the SMOK products that were denied marketing.
on Jan. 3, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the FDA acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in rejecting the premarket tobacco product applications (PMTA) of Wages and White Lion Investments, doing business as Triton Distribution, and Vapetasia for approval to sell their products in the United States.
The 9-5 decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit reversed a July 2022 decision by a three-judge panel of that court.
The agency “sent manufacturers of flavored e-cigarette products on a wild goose chase,” telling them what would be needed to approve their products, and then denying all applications, the court said in an opinion by Judge Andrew S. Oldham. The FDA “never gave petitioners fair notice that they needed to conduct long-term studies on their specific flavored products,” Oldham wrote.