Chill to Pull All Synthetic Products From U.S. Market

Chill Brands Group PLC said Wednesday that it will end future development and U.S. sales of its tobacco-free nicotine product line in response to additional U.S. regulatory restrictions for synthetic nicotine products.

The London-listed cannabidiol-products company said the additional restrictions for the products would incur substantial costs to manufacturers and retailers, and that it is working with international partners to transfer remaining synthetic nicotine inventory for sale, according to Market Watch.

All of Chill’s other products are unaffected.

The company said a federal funding bill amending the definition of a tobacco product was passed by U.S. Congress in March, giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority over synthetic nicotine–including Chill’s “tobacco-free nicotine” chew pouch products, launched in December.

As a result, Chill would have been required to submit premarket tobacco product applications for its products to legally remain on sale, a process that could exceed a full-cost of $400,000 per flavor and which it views as commercially unviable.

“Naturally this is disappointing, but this decision will at least allow us to avoid expending further capital which will be better allocated to developing other products and potential revenue streams,” Chief Executive Callum Sommerton said.