Altria to enter U.S. vaping market with tobacco-based device
Marlboro maker hopes to gain success with pen-like IQOS gadget as cigarette sales drop
ATLANTA— The dominant tobacco company in the U.S., maker of the top-selling Marlboro cigarette, is trying to become the next e-cigarette giant.
Altria next month will begin selling a new tobacco product called IQOS, a pen-like electronic device with a sleek battery pack. It hopes to make a splash with an IQOS store in Atlanta, the company’s first ahead of a national rollout.
The seller of roughly one in every two traditional cigarettes in the U.S. is making the major push as fewer Americans light up and more experiment with vaping devices like e-cigarettes to get their nicotine fix.
Such gadgets, including Altria’s “heat not burn device,” are less harmful than traditional cigarettes which release toxins through combustion. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the country, killing 480,000 a year.
But there’s debate around ecigarettes that create vapour but no combustion. It’s unclear whether the devices help smokers quit traditional cigarettes. At the same time, vaping gadgets are hooking a new generation of young people on nicotine.
Less harmful also doesn’t mean harmless. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said over the weekend it is investigating more than 90 potential cases of severe lung illness associated with vaping in 14 states. Symptoms include coughing, difficulty breathing and fatigue.
“I find it ironic that Atlanta is the site of the launch of IQOS,” said Dr. Michael Eriksen, dean of Georgia State University’s School of Public Health. “Atlanta is home of the CDC, home of the American Cancer Society.”
IQOS differs from e-cigarettes already on the market because it contains tobacco rather than liquid nicotine or nicotine salt. The product includes a heating blade that warms a tobacco stick and releases a vapour with the taste of tobacco.
Altria is marketing IQOS in the U.S. in a partnership deal with tobacco giant Philip Morris International, which owns the rights to Marlboro overseas. Philip Morris International invested $3 billion (U.S.) in developing IQOS and has introduced it in more than 30 markets around the world.
The U.S. foray follows earlier failed bids by Altria to capture the e-cigarette market after its MarkTen and Green Smoke brands fizzled. Last year, the company shelled out $12.8 billion for a 35 per cent stake in Juul, the dominant e-cigarette brand.
Altria spokesperson David Sutton said IQOS will target adult smokers who want to continue using tobacco, not kids or non-smokers.
Many anti-tobacco groups are concerned. Denny Henigan, vice-president of legal and regulatory affairs at Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, notes big tobacco companies hid evidence for years that cigarettes caused cancer. He argued they also have a long history of marketing tobacco to children, including using cartoon characters.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved IQOS for sale in the U.S. in late April, saying the heated tobacco sticks “produce fewer or lower levels of some toxins than combustible cigarettes” and could help people quit smoking.
The FDA said it won’t allow the company to target ads to teenagers and will track how young people use the product. Because the new product meets the technical definition of a cigarette, it can’t be advertised on TV or radio.
E-cigarettes and other nicotine delivery systems have grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade in the U.S. and abroad.
Philip Morris International, which doesn’t sell products in the U.S., says 7.3 million people have abandoned cigarettes in other parts of the world in the two years, switching to IQOS. The company’s cigarette volumes fell 3.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2019.
A surge in vaping among U.S. teens, though, has health authorities concerned. Use of ecigarettes by high school students soared from 1.5 per cent in 2011 to 20.8 per cent in 2018, according to the CDC. Among 12th graders, 37 per cent reported vaping in 2018, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Even though Juul vowed not to market to underage users, several studies show many adolescents are exposed to the device through social media. Under pressure by the FDA and others, the company has stopped selling most of its flavoured pods like cotton candy and mango in stores and is shutting down its social media presence. Altria says it won’t sell flavours beyond tobacco and menthol — the only ones allowed for cigarettes under FDA regulations.
GSU’s Eriksen, a tobacco control expert, agrees that heatnot-burn tobacco products are safer than traditional cigarettes. He’s still concerned, though.
“We have a public health disaster on our hands primarily because of Juul, which has proven to be so appealing to young people and so addictive. I think it’s absolutely incumbent to not let IQOS become the next Juul,” Eriksen said.