Tobacco Science Innovation
Defining the way new category products are developed.
The Risk Continuum
Tobacco products exist on a continuum of risk to the consumer’s health. We focus our research on assessing risk* and encouraging adult tobacco consumers who do not want to quit and are uninterested in quitting tobacco products to switch to potentially reduced risk product categories.
*Risk continuum of tobacco and nicotine products related to toxicant exposure. Substantially reduced toxicant exposure is not sufficient alone to determine reduced risk.
Vapor
Vapor products play a major role in providing alternative nicotine* products. We are making even greater investments and continue to push the technological boundaries to provide alternatives for adult tobacco consumers who are interested in moving away from combustible cigarettes.
Why Vapor?
Modern Oral
Modern oral products are flavored pouches containing nicotine,* water, and other high-quality ingredients. Adult nicotine consumers place the disposable pouch between their gum and upper lip during which nicotine and flavors are released and absorbed through the oral mucosa.
Why Modern Oral?
Traditional Oral
Traditional oral products (also known as smokeless tobacco products) are those containing tobacco and include portioned snus, loose moist, and portioned moist oral tobacco products, among others.
Why Traditional Oral?
Tobacco Heated Products
Tobacco heating, or heat not burn, products are products in which tobacco is heated and not burned to generate an aerosol. Through innovation our research efforts have explored two types of tobacco heating products (THP): (1) the tobacco is heated through the lighting of a carbon tip wrapped in glass fibers and (2) an electronic handheld device which powers a heating chamber and a specially designed rod containing homogenized tobacco.
We continue to gather data to understand the science of the electronic handheld device. The burning of a normal cigarette can reach over 900°C but the heating chamber in an electronic THP heating chamber device only reaches between 250-260°C. This is sufficient to release nicotine and glycerol via evaporation and distillation.
Marketing Authorization
Our team of experts and scientists work vigorously to support the development of our new product categories. This science is used to build premarket applications, including Premarket Tobacco Product Applications (PMTAs). A PMTA must be submitted by any person for any new tobacco product seeking an FDA marketing order, under section 910(b) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act. The PMTA pathway to marketing authorization sets rigorous, science-driven standards for authorization of new product categories, and we are committed to reducing the health impact of our business through this multi-category approach.
* Nicotine in tobacco products is addictive. No tobacco product has been shown to be safe or risk free.