Nicoventures, a company formed by British American Tobacco Plc to develop substitute nicotine products, is seeking approval for its Voke inhalation device to be made available on the UK National Health Service as it seeks an edge in the growing market for cigarette alternatives.
Voke has gained approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to be prescribed by doctors and will become the unit’s first licensed product, Nicoventures said today. The NHS accounts for about 90 per cent of the British health care market. The company is also looking for it to be available in stores, said Des Naughton, managing director of Nicoventures.
Tobacco companies globally are developing cigarette alternatives amid government clampdowns and people quitting smoking. BAT has been selling Vype e-cigarettes for more than a year in the UK, while rival Imperial Tobacco Group Plc is acquiring Blu, the world’s biggest e-cigarette maker.
Nicoventures will require a further license to allow the cigarette-shaped Voke to be manufactured via an automated process. Naughton declined to say when he expected that to be granted and when BAT would start selling the product.
Medical Device
The regulation of e-cigarettes and whether they are safer than traditional cigarettes was reignited last month when the World Health Organisation called for them to be banned indoors and said sales to minors should be prohibited.
Voke will be able to circumvent the indoor ban now that it is licensed as a medical device. The inhaler, based on asthma inhaler technology, delivers a nicotine formulation via a breath-operated valve in a cigarette-sized medical device and contains no electronics, heat or combustion.
It’s designed to relieve and prevent craving and nicotine withdrawal symptoms associated with tobacco dependence, according to its developer Kind Consumer, a company backed by former Tesco Plc chief executive officer Terry Leahy.
“The product is far more appealing than what is currently in the market” such as nicotine patches, gum or inhalers developed by pharmaceutical companies, Naughton said.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
