The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Altria-Juul pact, mixed message gets FDA scrutiny
Tobacco giant Altria Group Inc.’s efforts to gain a toehold in the burgeoning e-cigarette market are facing scrutiny, as a top U.S. regulator signaled that curbs on sales of some vaping products are imminent.
The Food and Drug Administration is concerned that Altria’s $12.8 billion stake in e-cigarette startup Juul Labs Inc. contradicts commitments both companies have made to address what health officials have called an epidemic of youth vaping.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb wrote to the companies Friday and asked to talk with them about “public statements that seem inconsistent” with vows they made to the agency last year to combat nicotine use by minors. Youth adoption of e-cigarettes has surged in the past year, provoking calls for action from parents, public-health advocates and lawmakers.
The commissioner also said that he expects to make good in the next 30 days on a pledge he made in November to issue draft rules restricting sales of most flavored e-cigarette products to vaping shops and online retailers who verify a purchaser’s age.
Gottlieb insisted last year that e-cigarette manufacturers take steps to keep their products from being used by children. Many vaping pods come in fruit or candy flavors. Some have packaging resembling juice boxes or whip cream.
Altria said in a letter sent to Gottlieb in October that it would temporarily pull its flavored pod based products from stores.
“We believe that pod-based products significantly contribute to the rise in youth use of e-vapor products,” Altria Chief Executive Officer Howard Willard III wrote in the letter, less than two months before the company, which also sells Marlboro cigarettes, would buy a stake in Juul.
“My question is, what changed?” Gottlieb said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Willard said in the October letter to the FDA that the company believed flavored pods could help adult smokers transition away from traditional cigarettes and didn’t think it had a problem with youth access or use of its products.
Juul is a pod-based product with the flavored nicotine sold as a separate cartridge. Known for a sleek device that can be held in the palm of the hand, it’s popular among youth and young adults, including people who aren’t prior tobacco users. San Francisco-based Juul Labs is one of the most richly valued startups in the country, worth $38 billion after Altria’s investment in December.
“If youth use goes up 40 percent or 50 percent this year we’re going to be having a very different discussion come this summer or fall,” Gottlieb said in the interview. He has threatened to ban all sales of flavored e-cigarettes if underage use isn’t controlled.
The letters to Altria and Juul follow a move Thursday by the commissioner to single out Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. for being the biggest violator of prohibitions on youth tobacco sales. Walgreens said it has taken steps to crack down on such sales.
Gottlieb had previously eased restrictions on e-cigarettes as he expressed hope they would offer adults smokers a way to quit but he has reversed course given the rise in vaping among children and teens.