Tag: news

Altria Stock Up 8% Since FDA Pulled Juul Denial Order

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told Juul Labs it needed to pull its e-cigarette from the market, Altria stock (MO) hit a more than 52-week low of $41.00 in early July. On Aug. 15 MO was trading up 0.2 percent at $45.35.
Altria stock has fallen 7 percent over the past 12 months and is currently trading down 21 percent since peaking at a three-year high of $57.05 in early May, according to Schaefer’s Investment Research.
Additionally, shares of MO have dropped 6 percent year-to-date. However, Altria stock has increased 8 percent over the past month and is up 10 percent since the July low.
The FDA ordered Juul Labs to remove its products from the U.S. market and MO plummeted until, on July 6, the FDA said it was temporarily lifting its ban on Juul products.
The tobacco company’s valuation metrics remain mixed, with Altria stock trading at an intriguing forward price-earnings ratio of 9.29 but also at a high price-sales ratio of 3.92.
“Nonetheless, MO offers an incredible dividend yield of 7.97% with a forward dividend of $3.60, making it one of the highest dividend yields available on the stock market today,” the story states.
MO has struggled to maintain consistent growth on the bottom line over multiple years as well, reporting an $8.3 billion decrease in net income for fiscal 2019 and a $2 billion decrease for fiscal 2021.
Still, the tobacco company is expected to end fiscal 2022 with 5 percent revenue growth.
August 18, 2022
Vaping May Reduce Smoking Without Increasing Dependence

Photo: pavelkant
E-cigarettes may help people decrease their dependence on combustible cigarettes without increasing their overall nicotine dependence, according to a recent Penn State College of Medicine study.
The researchers enrolled 520 participants interested in reducing their cigarette intake but with no plans or interest to quit smoking and instructed them to reduce their cigarette consumption over the six-month study period. Participants randomly received an e-cigarette that delivered 36, 8 or 0 mg/mL of nicotine, or a cigarette substitute that contained no tobacco, as an aid in their efforts to reduce their cigarette consumption.
At six months, all participants in the e-cigarette groups reported significant, decreased cigarette consumption, with those in the 36 mg/mL group smoking the least number of cigarettes per day. Those in the e-cigarette groups reported significantly lower dependence on the Penn State Cigarette Dependence Index than those in the cigarette substitute group.
“Our results suggest that using e-cigarettes or a cigarette substitute to reduce cigarette consumption can result in a reduction of self-reported cigarette use and dependence,” said Jessica Yingst, who directs the College of Medicine’s Doctor of Public Health Program. “Importantly, use of the high-concentration e-cigarette did not increase overall nicotine dependence and was associated with a greater reduction in cigarette smoking compared to the cigarette substitute.”
August 17, 2022
FEELM Earns Chinese E-Cigarette Production License

One of the largest and most influential e-cigarette brands now has its production license in China.
FEELM, the flagship atomization technology platform belonging to Smoore – the world’s largest vape manufacture, earned the e-cigarette production licenses after completing all the necessary requirements set out earlier this year by the Chinese government.
The license was obtained from China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), the country’s top regulator of tobacco products.
In early 2022, China brought forward new national standards for electronic cigarettes, which required companies manufacturing vapor products to obtain a production license.
Three Smoore factories, two of which are licensed under the FEELM brand, have been granted production licenses, with FEELM also receiving official approval to produce e-cigarettes as its own entity, according to a press release.
Smoore welcomed China’s new policy framework, ensuring that all e-cigarette manufacturers operate in full compliance with the law.
“It is Smoore’s aim to continue to use science and technology as the driving force behind its business model, actively promoting the long-term sustainability of the industry and supporting its global client and customer base,” the release states.
FEELM’s products are already available in more than 50 countries around the world.
In 2022, FEELM launched its innovative disposable vaping device, FEELM Max, along with the world’s first ultra-thin vaping device, FEELM Air.
These new products will be available in the U.S., Europe, Africa and additional markets.
FEELM now has a total annual production capacity of two billion devices and also has the first fully automated production line in the vapor industry with the ability to produce more than 7,200 atomizers per hour.
“The high-quality production processes are centered on continual improvements to the customer’s vaping experience,” according to the release.
According to Frost & Sullivan, Smoore is the world’s largest vaping device manufacturer in terms of revenue, accounting for 22.8 percent of the total global market share in 2021.
Its global market share is bigger than the combined total of those companies listed from No.2 to No.5.
Less than 50 e-cigarette related companies, including retailers and manufacturers, have met the new restrictions and received licences from the authority so far, STMA’s website shows.
There are an estimated 1,500 companies involved in the vaping industry, according to calculations by the Electronic Cigarette Professional Committee of China Electronics Chamber of Commerce (ECCC) last year.
However, more licenses are expected to be issued in coming months as regulators work through a backlog of applications, according to news reports.

August 16, 2022
Yach: Ukraine Offers Chance to Transform Tobacco

Photo: Hugo
The crisis in Ukraine offers an opportunity to transform tobacco use across eastern and central Europe.
By Derek Yach
Vladimir Vorotnikov, writing Vapor Voice‘s sister publication in Tobacco Reporter’s August 2022 issue, outlined how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has upended well-established supply chain and business relationships that have been in effect for decades. In fact, a careful read of Balkan Smoke by Mary C. Neuberger traces the roots of these relationships way back to Bulgaria in the 1920s. Vorotnikov discussed the impact of sanctions on Russian tobacco production, the emergence of illicit trade in the region, and more recently, the reestablishment of cigarette production in Ukraine.
He does not discuss the massive growth over the past few years in new reduced-risk nicotine products—led by IQOS—across eastern and central Europe. The editor makes the point that Russia is (was) one the largest markets for IQOS. My own observations during a visit to Kyiv in late October 2021 were that a range of vape products and heated-tobacco products were readily available across the city despite posters funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies near the Parliament proclaiming that they were dangerous.
An anti-vaping poster in Kyiv
(Photo courtesy of Derek Yach)
This is a time of profound transition for the region. Amid the horrors of war and the human tragedies it continues to bring to the people of Ukraine are opportunities to reduce future deaths from the single largest cause of premature death in the region—and especially among men—combustible tobacco products. As rebuilding begins—as it inevitably will—government, business and health professionals need to grasp the chance to avoid rebuilding the tobacco industry in the image of the past and rather take the high ground of health and make reduced-risk products the easily available option while phasing out combustible sales.
For governments, this means adopting risk-proportionate regulations that build on the approaches proposed by the recent Javed Khan report for the United Kingdom, and on the authorizations of a range of reduced-risk products by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Ukraine and the neighboring countries relied on FDA guidance in relation to Covid vaccine advice—now is the time to draw upon their guidance to accelerate access to reduced-risk products, citing the FDA’s comments that they are deemed “appropriate for the protection of public health.”
Tax and other regulatory approaches could be applied to accelerate the transition. Further, governments of the region need to step up investments in customs and excise oversight to stop large-scale illicit trade taking hold—as it has in the occupied territories of Georgia following Russian invasion in 2008.
The Russian government also has an obligation to protect the health of its people and take regulatory steps to ensure that the progress made by Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco International and BAT is increasing their revenue from heated-tobacco products at the cost of combustibles. Slippage with regard to these gains will translate into a return to the very high smoking rates, and associated death rates, of the past.
Government actions will be limited, though, unless the three leading tobacco companies (PMI, JTI and BAT) active in the region commit to take concerted efforts to accelerate their transition out of combustibles and publicly clarify what “withdrawing from Russia” means. Are they continuing to profit from Russian cigarette sales albeit through local companies? Are those companies obliged to push ahead with reduced-risk products, or will they revert to cigarettes?
Outside of Russia, leading tobacco companies could communicate the benefits of switching, take measures to clamp down on illicit trade and tighten youth access to all nicotine products, through joint action. Such bold actions would give them a chance to show their seriousness to transformation—something investors should reward.
United Nations agencies have a role to play at this time. Evidence emerging from inside Ukraine suggests that smoking rates have increased among those in the military and possibly among displaced peoples. This is understandable given the unprecedented stress to which people are exposed. The current U.N. response has been to ignore this reality and simply continue to support policies that ban cigarette sales during conflicts—something that is probably ignored. A far better way forward is to support people who smoke or seek nicotine to have ready access to nicotine-replacement products and approved reduced-risk nicotine products. This would mean that a generation of people may well emerge from the war with lower overall risks to their health.
War and tobacco use are intimately linked and currently interacting in dangerous ways to the health of populations. We should not wait for the transition to peace and health to begin before taking steps to accelerate the transition of smokers away from combustibles.
A global health expert and anti-smoking advocate for more than 30 years, Derek Yach is the owner of Global Health Strategies. Previously, Yach was the director of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World and a World Health Organization cabinet director and executive director for noncommunicable diseases and mental health. He was deeply involved with the development of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

August 15, 2022
Judge Rules Delta-8 THC Legal for Sale in Kentucky
A judge in the U.S. state of Kentucky has sided with the state’s hemp industry over law enforcement.
The judge ruled that products containing delta-8 THC derived from hemp are legal, a hemp trade association said in a news release.
The Kentucky Hemp Association (KHA) – which sued the state over the issue a year ago – celebrated the ruling as “a huge win for farmers and retailers.”
Police had begun raiding licensed Kentucky hemp shops in an effort to crack down on the delta-8 THC market.
The enforcement stemmed from the state Department of Agriculture releasing a letter that referred to delta-8 THC hemp products as a “Schedule 1 controlled substance,” illegal under U.S. law, despite the federal legalization of hemp in 2018, according to mjbizdaily.
The KHA then sued the department, the state agriculture commissioner and the state police commissioner to halt the raids.
“These delta-8 raids on retailers were … a challenge we were ready and willing to face in order to protect retailers of Kentucky Proud Hemp products,” KHA Vice President Tate Hall said in the release.
August 15, 2022
Malaysian Think Tank Wants Change to Tobacco Ban Bill

Credit: Butenkow
A think tank in Malaysia has urged the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) reviewing the tobacco generational endgame (GEG) bill to remove Clause 17 of the legislation.
The clause criminalises smoking, vaping as well as the possession of any tobacco products or smoking devices by those born in 2007 and onwards.
Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy chief executive officer Azrul Mohd Khalib said the law should instead put the burden on retailers, companies and corporations to not sell or supply tobacco and vape products to the GEG generation.
“Clause 17 makes the proposed legislation vulnerable to accusations of selective [prosecution], creates stigma and discrimination and marginalizes a group of people who will need support and assistance,” said Azrul in a statement. “Despite our best efforts, in the future there will be people in the GEG group who smoke and vape, and become addicted to nicotine. Should they be punished?
“The legislation should ensure that it is an offence to legally sell or supply tobacco or vape products to those born from Jan 1, 2007.”
Azrul stressed that anyone addicted to nicotine has the right to be treated equally under the law, with compassion and dignity.
He said the GEG bill should not be allowed to disproportionately affect young people, people from low income groups and vulnerable populations.
August 15, 2022
Altria Files 3 More Patents for Cannabis Applications

Credit: New Africa
Altria Client Services has filed numerous patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) related to vaporizer technology, including several that mention cannabis as well as nicotine.
On August 4, the company had published three related applications that focus explicitly on the cannabis plant. More specifically, on its “flavor and aroma characteristics,” according to Cannabis Wire.
One application, titled “Terpene production in plants,” filed by Altria Client Services and the University of Virginia Patent Foundation, details the “composition and methods for the modification of the secondary metabolic functions of glandular trichomes in plants, such as tobacco or cannabis, that control the formation of terpenes that impart specific flavor and aroma characteristics to the plant leaves are provided.”
The pine or citrus smells and flavors of cannabis buds are typical terpene scents.
“Terpenoid levels in plants such as tobacco and Cannabis can be enhanced and modified by targeted manipulation of gene expression of genes in terpene biosynthetic pathways in order to improve flavor and aroma characteristics of downstream plant-based products,” the application reads.
A related application is titled, “Increasing trichome density and improving transport of metabolites in plant trichomes … terpenoids constitute the largest and most diverse class of plant metabolites,” the application reads.
“The amount of secondary metabolites produced is often tightly correlated to the glandular trichome density present on the plant epidermis,” it continues. “One way to increase the amount of secondary metabolite production in plants is to increase the density of trichomes present on the plant epidermis.”
A third related application is titled “Tissue-specific promoters in plants.”
“Due to the important role of glandular trichomes in the biosynthesis and secretion of terpenoids, there is a need for the identification of trichome-preferred, or trichome-specific, promoters and associated cis-regulatory elements,” the application reads.
Taken together, these patent applications provide the clearest picture yet of Altria’s interests and priorities when it comes to future cannabis products.
Altria’s entry into cannabis made headlines in 2019 when it acquired a significant stake in Cronos, a Canadian cannabis company.
August 15, 2022
Gallup Poll Claims U.S. Wants Stricter Vape Rules

Credit: Andrey Popov
Six in 10 Americans would like the laws and regulations dealing with electronic cigarettes to be stricter, a view shared by majorities of men, women and all age groups, according to a new poll from Gallup.
Views on e-cigarettes are also bipartisan, with more than half of Republicans, independents and Democrats wanting stricter laws.
The latest findings, from Gallup’s annual Consumption survey, conducted July 5-26, come after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted in June to ban the sale of a popular brand of e-cigarettes.
That decision is now under appeal.
The 61 percent of Americans currently in favor of stricter e-cigarette laws is slightly more than the 54 percent who held this view last year but similar to the 64 percent recorded in 2019.
Across all years, few adults have said the laws for e-cigarettes should be less strict, including 7 percent holding this position today.
The poll also found that a majority of Americans favor taking nicotine, but not menthol, out of cigarettes.
August 14, 2022
Study: Vapes Reduce Heart Risks Compared to Smokes

Credit: Apple Design

A new study shows that aerosols from nicotine vaping do not produce the cellular effects caused by cigarette smoke that lead to vascular damage and the onset of a host of heart diseases.
The research, published in Wiley Analytical Science, also found that aerosols from heated tobacco products produced substantially fewer adverse cellular effects compared to combustible cigarettes.
The study is part of the Replica Project, whose mission is to replicate the most well-known studies conducted by tobacco companies in order to independently assess their scientific validity.
The project is run by the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), according to Helen Redmond, writing for Filter.
The new study was conducted by an international group of researchers affiliated with CoEHAR at independent laboratories in Indonesia, Oman, Russia, Serbia, Greece and the U.S.
The researchers replicated a study done in 2017 by scientists BAT, which demonstrated that the endothelial cell migration inhibition caused by cigarette smoke (the endothelium is a membrane lining the heart and blood vessels) is not caused by e-cig aerosol exposure.
The Replica study, using the Vype ePen3 and the heated tobacco products Glo Pro and IQOS 3 Duo, corroborated the findings of the BAT study.
August 13, 2022
Total Ban on Sales of Vaping Products Constitutional

Credit: Kraken Images.
A group of merchants brought a Federal Lawsuit against the Town of Eastchester, New York alleging that the town’s new anti-vaping law was unconstitutional. The law was upheld by a Federal Court in the Southern District of New York.
At the September 3rd, 2019 Town Board meeting, Eastchester was one of the first Towns to adopt a local law to prevent the sale of electronic nicotine-delivery system (ENDS) products within the Town.
The law which is known as “Electronic Nicotine Delivery Product Law” prohibits the sale of tobacco substitutes containing nicotine from being sold in the town, according to a local news source. This includes, but is not limited to: e-cigarettes, vapes, vaporizers, vape pens, lozenges or other candy, drinks, liquid nicotine or other e-liquids or inhalers.
Town Supervisor Anthony Colavita and the Town Board were also the first to opt out of participating in the New York State Marijuana Retail Sales Program as well.
Supervisor Colavita stated, “Keeping our citizens, especially our youth, safe by limiting accessibility to the products specified in our law is our top priority. I am glad the Town of Eastchester prevailed.”
August 11, 2022