Japan Tobacco (JT) will relocate its headquarters to a new location in Tokyo on Oct. 5.
The new address is: Kamiyacho Trust Tower, 24-6, Toranomon 4-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo.
JT will lease the 26th to 30th floors of the building and occupy 19,253.06 square meters of office space.
The company has approximately 62,000 employees in more than 130 countries.
Juul Labs has submitted a Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the company’s Juul system, an electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) product. The company’s submission includes comprehensive scientific evidence for the Juul device and Juul pods in Virginia Tobacco and Menthol flavors at nicotine concentrations of 5.0 percent and 3.0 percent, as well as information on its data-driven measures to address underage use of its products.
With its PMTA submission, Juul Labs has provided a scientific foundation for the FDA to evaluate whether these products are “appropriate for the protection of the public health” with respect to the risks and benefits to the population as a whole. The application includes detailed scientific data from over 110 studies totaling more than 125,000 pages evaluating the product’s impact on both current users of tobacco products and nonusers, including those who are underage.
As part of the PMTA process, Juul Labs has built a comprehensive research program focused on examining the public health impact of the Juul system. This includes research addressing the harm reduction potential of the product, including its ability to convert adult smokers from combustible cigarettes. This research is supplemented with information on the controlled design and repeatable manufacturing processes associated with the Juul system, as well as data-driven measures to limit unintended consequences to the overall population, including initiation among nonusers.
“In order to earn a license to operate in society, we need to be a science and evidence-based company, engage in open and transparent dialogue with our stakeholders, and take methodical and responsible actions to advance the potential for harm reduction for adult smokers while combating underage use. Our PMTA submission is a key part of that approach,” said Juul Labs CEO K.C. Crosthwaite.
“Juul Labs has committed all necessary resources to deliver the best possible PMTA based on rigorous scientific research and data-driven measures to address underage use,” said Joe Murillo, chief regulatory officer at Juul Labs. “We respect the PMTA process and believe it is the right forum to determine the role ENDS products can play in transitioning and completely switching adult smokers from combustible cigarettes to potentially less harmful alternative products while combating underage use.”
Late last year, the company, under Crosthwaite’s leadership, committed to resetting the vapor category and seeking to work cooperatively with regulators, legislators, attorneys general, public health officials, and other stakeholders to combat underage use and transition adult smokers from combustible cigarettes. As part of that process, the company reduced its product portfolio, halted television, print, and digital product advertising, built up its science and evidence-based capabilities, and supported the U.S. Administration’s final flavor policy for ENDS products, while taking a methodical approach to its global presence.
Juul Labs has built up its science and evidence-based capabilities and will use its research and data to explore additional pathways in other countries. The company will continue to share its research with regulators and the public health community globally through peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and one-on-one meetings.
Teresa Sebastian, an executive with financial and compliance expertise, will join the Juul Labs board. Sebastian is CEO of The Dominion Asset Group, an early-stage investment group focused on revitalizing urban areas, according to a story on Bloomberg.com.
Sebastian will serve as an independent director and head up the vapor company’s audit committee, according to Juul Labs CEO K.C. Crosthwaite, according to Bloomberg. Sebastian is the first Black member of the company’s eight-person board. Juul added former Canadian Health Minister Rona Ambrose as an independent director in May, making her its first female board member, according to the report.
Crosthwaite also said he will become chairman at the board’s request, succeeding co-founder Adam Bowen, who will head up the product committee. Bowen became the company’s first chairman when Crosthwaite joined the company last fall, according to Bloomberg.
“We are all aware that our company is entering a critical period,” Crosthwaite said. “With the support and oversight of our increasingly robust board, we will deliver our first PMTA submissions to the FDA, while continuing the work of combating underage vaping and transitioning adult smokers all around the world from combustible cigarettes.”
Crosthwaite said in the email that Sebastian will help Juul ensure it has financial discipline, according to Bloomberg. She serves on two other boards and teaches courses on corporate compliance, legal risk management and accounting at the University of Michigan and Vanderbilt University.
Aspire officially announced the launch of its flagship cannabis brand, Ispire. Ispire offers a full range of vaping devices available exclusively through OEM and ODM strategic partnerships, according to a press release.
Ispire’s main product line, Ducore, features a patented dual ceramic coil delivery system with adjustable airflow along with several other innovative technologies. “These technological advances will reshape the way the user experiences cannabis,” the release states. “Innovations in how a consumer interacts with cannabis has been limited in recent years, and we are leading the industry innovative products that allow consumers to control their own experiences and enjoy their cannabis to the full extent.”
The cannabis industry has historically provided consumers with limited options concerning vaping hardware. All hardware on the market is similar in nature, according to the release. “They all have limitations on the amount of airflow and temperature control,” said Aspire North America CEO Michael Wang. “We created the world’s first dual coil technology, so our products provide the maximum amount of smoke, allowing customers to adjust the air flow to find the air stream that best suits their taste, ensuring a smoother, better taste, that does not burn the throat.”
Vape Stop is set to launch its e-commerce store and distribution arm in UAE this year. All products sold on the Vape Stop store are approved by Emirates Authority For Standardization & Metrology (ESMA), the UAE government body that governs and approves a variety of products including electronic nicotine products for import and sale in the country.
ESMA has put in place a comprehensive procedure for approvals for electronic nicotine products since April 2019, which fosters quality and tested products are brought in the UAE market. With Dubai as its hub, the company plans to cater to the audience in Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Vape Stop will showcase international vape brands from US, Canada, UK and Malaysia in UAE, along with offering a premium buying experience including superior packaging, customer service, post-delivery care etc.
The selection process for these top-quality devices and flavours is rigorous wherein multiple focus groups are conducted to analyse which e-liquids and devices best fit the profile of UAE’s adult smokers. Vape Stop has also curated special combos for novice adult vapers such as ‘Savvy Collector’ and ‘Progressive Adopter’, that come with a pre-set combination of a vape device and e liquids.
“As per studies, over 64 million people will switch to vaping devices instead of smoking traditional cigarettes over the next few years, and we believe that Dubai is set to provide a global platform for an industry expected to be worth $53.4 billion by 2024,” said Vape Stop founder Anant Jangwal, We will also be showcasing some of the latest innovations during ‘The World Vape Expo’ in Dubai which is slated to go online for this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. We hope to replace combustible cigarettes with electronic nicotine delivery systems for a smoke free future by 2030, by catering to adult smokers who would otherwise continue smoking traditional cigarettes.”
E-cigarettes are the only tobacco product sold in Kentucky that is not subject to an excise tax. That changes Saturday.
Earlier this year, Kentucky lawmakers approved House Bill 351 that included an excise tax on vapor products. In addition to the state’s 6 percent sales tax, an excise tax will be imposed on closed and open vaping systems, according to Kentucky.com. Kentucky will now charge $1.50 on each closed cartridge or pod and 15 percent of the actual price for which the distributor sells an open system.
The new excise tax on vaping products is expected to generate about $7.9 million for the state this fiscal year and slightly more in coming years since the tax did not start on July 1, the beginning of this fiscal year.
Turning Point Brands (TPB) announced its second-quarter results and increased its 2020 guidance.
Net sales increased 12.5 percent to $105 million, and gross profit increased 16.8 percent to $48.1 million. Net income decreased $4 million to $9.2 million, reflecting the inclusion of expensing premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) costs incurred during the current quarter compared to the net gain related to a settlement from the V2 winddown in the previous year’s quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased 24.8 percent to $22.8 million.
Absent any further acquisitions, the company projects 2020 net sales to be $370 million to $382 million (up from previous guidance of $338 million to $353 million). It projects 2020 adjusted EBITDA of $78 million to $83 million (up from previous guidance of $69 million to $75 million). Its projections assume no upside from the PMTA process in 2020.
Vaping is on the verge of being banned in Melbourne’s CBD as the council votes on whether to redefine e-cigarettes as ‘smoking’, angering civil libertarians. The City of Melbourne Council will decide on Tuesday whether to ban vaping from all of council’s existing smoke-free zones, according to an article in the Daily Mail.
Melbourne city centre (also known colloquially as simply “The City” or “The CBD” is the central built up area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city laid out in 1837, and includes its fringes. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne which includes this area and the inner suburbs around it, according to wikipedia.
A total of 11 smoke-free zones in the CBD and surrounds including the Bourke Street Mall would be covered by the ban. The popular Tan running track which loops around Kings Domain and the Royal Botanical Gardens, south-east of the CBD, would be off-limits to vapers if the motion passes the council vote.
Anyone who is younger than 21 will be prohibited from buying tobacco products in Minnesota beginning Saturday, Aug. 1.
A new statute is set to take effect that day, squaring state law with a federal measure that outlaws purchases of tobacco and e-cigarette products to those younger than 21, according to an article in the Duluth News Tribune. Under the law, those under 21 would also be prohibited from entering tobacco or vape shops.
Businesses that sell tobacco products to those younger than 21 would face a $300 penalty after the first offense with higher fees on subsequent offenses. And anyone under 21 found buying tobacco products would face license suspensions and adults who furnish the products to them would face a $50 fine, the story states.
The federal government has hiked the minimum age of sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21, and local governments around the state have enacted similar ordinances in their communities. But state lawmakers and advocates aiming to prevent tobacco addiction in young people said the measures weren’t being enforced evenly across the state.
The World Health Organization is reminding its member states of their tobacco obligations under the WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) especially in relation to heat-not-burn products (HNB).
“Heated tobacco products are tobacco products, meaning that the WHO FCTC fully applies to these products. [Rules] obliges Parties, to prohibit ‘all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship that promote a tobacco product by any means that are false, misleading or deceptive or likely to create an erroneous impression about its characteristics, health effects, hazards or emissions,” the statement reads.
The Who claims that reducing exposure to harmful chemicals in HNB products does not render them harmless, nor does it translate to reduced risk to human health. “Indeed, some toxins are present at higher levels in [HNB] aerosols than in conventional cigarette smoke, and there are some additional toxins present in [HNB] aerosols that are not present in conventional cigarette smoke,” the release states The organization also claims that the health implications of exposure to HNB products are unknown.
Even though the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the marketing of a HNB product, Philip Morris’ IQOS, the WHO says there is no proof that HNB products are safer than cigarettes. “Given that health may be affected by exposure to additional toxins when using [HNB], claims that [HNB] products reduce exposure to harmful chemicals relative to conventional cigarettes may be misleading.
“Moreover, the relevant orders grant a temporary market authorization within the US and are based on factors specific to the US, which is not a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).”
The WHO has long spread misinformation concerning new tobacco products even though several studies say they are further down the ladder of harm reduction than combustible cigarettes.