16
TOBACCO BUSINESS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
NEWS & TRENDS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
HArM
reduction
UPDATE
UK to regulate E-Cigs as Medicine
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency will
license electronic cigarettes as medication.
With the fate of the e-cigarette industry still under
debate in the United States, the United Kingdom has
decided to regulate e-cigarettes as medicines “so
that people using these products have the confidence
they are safe, are of the right quality and work,” says
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory
Agency, the UK’s regulatory authority. The agency
will reportedly regulate e-cigarettes and other prod-
ucts containing nicotine in this fashion beginning in
2016 to give manufacturers time to ensure products
comply with the government’s standards for medi-
cines.
In the meantime, the regulatory body will not
recommend e-cigarettes, but also won’t ban them.
“While it’s best to quit completely, I realize that not
every smoker can and it is much better to get nicotine
from safer sources such as nicotine replacement ther-
apy,” explains Sally Davies, Britain’s chief medical of-
ficer. “It’s only right that [the products] are properly
regulated to be safe and work effectively.”
Once e-cigarettes and other nicotine products are
licensed, they will be available for sale as over-the-
counter medicines in the UK. Until now, as in the U.S.,
the products have been self-regulated.
Altria’s Nu Mark LLC subsidiary will launch the “Mark-
Ten” e-cigarette in a lead Indiana market in August.
While the company has no plans for a national rollout as
of yet, it is launching MarkTen in two varieties—Classic
and Menthol—and with the flexibility to be used as a
disposable or rechargeable product.
If consumers choose to use it as a rechargeable prod-
uct, they will need to purchase additional cartridges and
charging accessories, notes the company, which says
the product should sell for around $9.50.
MarkTen makes no health claims and will include a
warning on the package, according to Altria, which is
also expanding distribution of its Verve disc, a tobac-
co-less nicotine disc that was
tested in 60 Virginia stores in
August and will now be rolled
out to 1,200 stores.
Both products are geared toward meeting the chang-
ing demands of adult tobacco consumers, Altria CEO
Marty Barrington said during a recent call with the in-
vestment community. Citing government data, Bar-
rington said there are 66 million adult consumers across
all tobacco products—with 44 million cigarette smokers
and 7.5 million smokeless tobacco users. In addition, 50
percent of adult consumers say they are interested in
innovative products.
Altria Debuts E-Cigs
The company will launch MarkTen in Indiana.
New President for blu eCigs
Jim Raporte will take the helm from Jason Healy.
Electronic cigarette maker blu eCigs has named Jim Raporte to
take the reins from founder Jason Healy, who will stay on with
the company but focus on the company’s creativemarketing and
product development efforts. “I am very excited to hand over the
company I built only four years ago to Jimandmove to a consult-
ing role in product development andmarketing,” says Healy. “Jim
has tremendous experience in a wide range of businesses that
will help our sensational team ensure the continued success of
the blu eCigs brand.”
With a background that spans the tobacco, food and business
services industries, Raportewill seek to transitionblu eCigs, which
was purchased by Lorillard in April of 2012, from an emerging
startup to a large-scale second-generation company.
“From the ground up, blu eCigs has successfully established
itself as a leading image-based lifestyle brand in the rapidly ex-
panding electronic cigarette category,” says Raporte. “I am ex-
cited about the opportunity to continue building on the strength
of the brand as we further scale operations to meet growing cus-
tomer and retail demand—while partnering with Jason Healy to
continue building technology innovation, creative marketing and
ongoing customer-centric support that has made blu eCigs a true
game-changer.”
