Altria Stock Drops Due to Juul’s PMTA Uncertainty

Given Altria MO +0.1% bought a 35% stake in JUUL in 2018, and the PMTAs for the infamous vape brand remain pending, the tobacco company’s stock has dropped.

Diane Caruana

February 22, 2022

Last October Altria stock (NYSE: MO) dropped by 3%, trading close to $49 per share.

Anti-vaping politicians and groups, have been pressuring the FDA to flat out reject any PMTA applications by Juul. In fact the American Lung Association (ALA) and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids have recently said they are “deeply disappointed” that the FDA is still studying a percentage of the applications, including Juul’s. ECigIntelligence revealed that the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has gone as far as saying that it intends to take the agency to court if it did not “immediately clarify” the timeline and reason for its actions.

Given this uncertainty, and the fact that over the years Juul has been plagued by lawsuits, adverse health claims and accusations of targeting younger consumers, in October Altria stock (NYSE: MO) dropped by 3% and was at one point trading close to $49 per share. While the FDA has rejected some PMTA applications and approved others, it said in a statement that “there’s more work to be done to complete our remaining reviews.”

The FDA criticized for delaying PMTA decisions

On the other end of the spectrum, several anti-tobacco groups have sent a letter to the FDA urging it to take action on the outstanding PMTAs and encouraging the agency to deny applications for flavoured vaping products.

“We write to urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite decisions on the premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) still pending before the agency involving the flavored e-cigarette products, including those with menthol flavoring and, based on the best available scientific evidence, deny the pending applications for all non-tobacco flavored e-cigarettes in order to protect the nation’s young people from the health harms of these products,” said the letter, which was signed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Heart Association, and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids among others.

In response to the action by the groups, President of the American Vaping Association (AVA) Gregory Conley, highlighted that data has been showing that youth vaping has been declining and blasted anti-tobacco groups who “continue to push for a new drug war by amping up the moral panic around safer nicotine products.”

Read Further: Forbes