Many health and anti-vape groups have been pressuring the FDA to flat out reject any applications by Juul. In fact earlier this year, several anti-tobacco groups 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.
While entities such as the American Lung Association (ALA) and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said they are “deeply disappointed” that the FDA was 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 these delays.
The FDA should take into account that Juul has helped millions quit smoking
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal has just reported that the FDA is actually planning to reject Juul’s PMTAs and pull the brand off the US market. “The Juul product has helped millions of smokers switch to a reduced risk alternative,” said Matt Culley, a content creator on the board of the Smoke Free Alternatives Consumer Advocacy (CASAA). “That alone should be enough for an FDA authorization. That being said, Juul has made some mistakes along the way, and they’re being forced into a group full of small businesses who are on the outside looking in.”
“The silver lining is that Juul has the money to fight the FDA, and this could potentially benefit some of the smaller businesses without a voice,” he told Filter. “The news has also clearly put vaping back in the national discussion.” While the FDA has already rejected thousands of PMTA applications and approved others, in a recent statement it said that “there’s more work to be done to complete our remaining reviews.”
In other news, given the PMTA uncertainty of the past months, 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.
Evart School District Joins Evergrowing Lawsuit Against JUUL
