Stop-Smoking Drug Maker Asks FDA to Block Dissolvable Tobacco

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove dissolvable tobacco products from test markets, the Associated Press reported Sept. 28.

The flavored products contain finely milled tobacco, but are used like breath mints or cough lozenges. The FDA is reviewing their potential impact on public health, although they are not widely available. When the FDA issued a call for public input, GSK submitted its comments. 

“Smokeless tobacco products are currently being marketed without clear evidence of their safety,” GSK said in a statement, the Winston-Salem Journal reported Oct. 4.

R.J. Reynolds, which makes the Camel brand of dissolvable tobacco products, has stated that they give smokers a discreet option when in public places where smoking is not allowed.

Another manufacturer of smokeless tobacco products, Star Scientific, asked the FDA to allow it to market its dissolvable lozenges as presenting a “modified risk” to users.

GSK wrote in its news release that dissolvable tobacco products “should not be used as an alternative to cigarettes or for smoking cessation due to the potential negative health consequences and their impact on smoking behavior.” GSK makes smoking-cessation products like Nicorette gum and the NicoDerm patch. 

“If there are tobacco products out there that can be marketed in such a way that can significantly reduce the risk of disease, I don't know of anybody who opposes that,” said Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The FDA may not make a final decision for another year.