BAT's glo found to significantly reduce health risks, study shows

A one-year study involving 267 people in the United Kingdom has concluded that compared to traditional cigarettes, British American Tobacco's heated not burned traditional cigarettes have a significant risk reduction effect.

The final report was published last week by the Journal of Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine. A preliminary report, spanning six months, was released on July 1st.

The glo product has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. This is the latest report from a series of smokeless tobacco and nicotine products released by an Italian research group. "All results show that smokers who completely switch to glo...have achieved significant and sustained improvements in several potential risk indicators associated with early disease development, compared to smokers who continue to smoke," said the study's authors.

This includes respiratory diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular diseases. The publication notes that four of the main researchers are employees of BAT or RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., and BAT holds the intellectual property rights to the research. The report lists that glo is not without risks and may be addictive.

The largest global subsidiary of British American Tobacco, Reynolds American Inc., has about 2,500 employees at its US headquarters in Forsyth County. Researchers conducted a 12-month examination of smokers of traditional and heated tobacco products, ranging in age from 23 to 55 and generally in good health.

Researchers have found that individuals who smoke Glo have seen an improvement in their health, increasing the importance of evidence supporting Glo as a less risky alternative for adult smokers who cannot quit. David O'Reilly, head of scientific research for British American Tobacco, stated that this study "enables us to evaluate changes in the experience of adult smokers completely switching to Glo by assessing early indicators potentially related to the progression of disease.

It provides much-needed new evidence of the magnitude and sustainability of the impact of a complete switch to glo, and strengthens the potential of glo as a risk-reducing product.

According to the research findings, smokers who are not planning to quit were randomly assigned to either continue smoking or switch to using glo. For those who expressed a desire to quit, they were provided with nicotine replacement therapy and smoking cessation counselors.

Additionally, a group of non-smokers was included as a control group. They continued to abstain from any tobacco or nicotine products. Participants were asked to attend monthly clinic visits where blood, urine, and other measurements were taken as samples. These samples were tested for "exposure biomarkers" (targeting selected cigarette smoke toxins) and "potential harm biomarkers".

The key research findings are:

Biomarkers associated with DNA damage linked to lung cancer significantly and consistently decreased; white blood cell count significantly and consistently decreased, which is an inflammatory marker associated with the early development of cardiovascular disease and other smoking-related ailments; HDL cholesterol, which correlates with reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease, showed continuous improvement; significant and sustained improvement in lung health indicators; a key indicator of oxidative stress significantly and consistently improved, a process associated with several smoking-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease.

A report states that "our research findings support the view that smokers who completely switch to tobacco heating products may reduce the harmful impact of smoking on their health.

For most of the measured biological markers, the decrease in the use of glo was similar to that of participants who completely quit smoking.

Controversy surrounds the efforts of the British American Tobacco company as it emphasizes its dedication to reducing traditional cigarette consumption both in the United States and globally, claiming it aligns with public health goals. However, the company remains under scrutiny and suspicion from anti-tobacco and public health advocacy groups.

Most anti-tobacco advocacy groups carefully scrutinize smokeless innovation to determine if they can serve the public health, or act as a gateway product to smoking - especially for young people.

In January 2020, Dr. Jerome Adams, who was then serving as the Surgeon General of the United States, released a 30-year update on efforts to combat smoking. The update provided mixed messages about the effectiveness of electronic cigarettes.

Currently, electronic cigarettes are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a smoking cessation aid and are not considered a safe product for any user. According to a 20-page consumer guide by Adams, electronic cigarettes are a constantly evolving and diverse group of products with various usage methods.

Therefore, it is difficult to generalize the effectiveness of quitting smoking based on clinical trials involving specific e-cigarettes. More research is needed to determine if e-cigarettes are effective for smoking cessation and to better understand their impact on health. Adams also suggests the need to "establish a connection with smokers where they are.

The British American Tobacco company stated that it believes the cumulative nature of the report will "indicate that in the past decade there has been an increase in the number of people in the UK, Europe, and the US who wrongly believe that smoking e-cigarettes is as harmful or more harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes," despite several scientific reviews published during that period showing that e-cigarette products manufactured to quality standards pose lower health risks than cigarettes.

The scientific evidence is clear - but consumer misunderstandings still exist," said the British American Tobacco company.

Market share

The brand Glo is primarily sold in Japan and holds a 6.2% market share in all nicotine products as of July. Analysts have noted that British American Tobacco is playing catch-up to Philip Morris International, which has committed to phasing out traditional cigarette sales, resulting in significant attention and public health criticism.

In June 2020, the FDA approved the international version of a heat-not-burn traditional cigarette as an improved risk tobacco product to be sold by the company. Heat-not-burn products are sold globally as IQOS, but in the US, they are marketed as Marlboro HeatSticks. However, in November, the US Trade Representative confirmed that BAT had achieved a key legal victory in its patent infringement lawsuit against competitor Philip Morris International.

On September 29, 2021, the United States International Trade Commission made a final ruling that Philip Morris USA and Altria Client Services LLC violated the 1930 Tariff Act due to their involvement with two BAT product patents.

As a result of the ITC ruling, PM USA has been prohibited from importing PMI's IQOS 2.4, IQOS 3, and IQOS 3 Duo heat-not-burn tobacco products. It has also been ordered to cease future sales of Marlboro HeatSticks in the United States, which includes convenience stores in both the Triad and North Carolina. Altria has filed an appeal with the US Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles patent litigation. A hearing was held in June, during which ITC lawyers recommended that the appeals court uphold the agency's decision. Industry analysts suggest that the appeals process could take up to a year to reach a decision and that the likelihood of success on appeal is low.

Transformation or transition.

Glo research is being conducted in the early stages of BAT's transition from traditional cigarettes to potentially reduced-risk tobacco and nicotine products. In June, British American Tobacco announced that the global consumer base for its next-generation products had reached 19.4 million, up from 18.3 million on December 31.

In the 2021 fiscal year, the revenue from new product categories significantly impacted by Reynolds was $2.79 billion, marking a 51.8% growth compared to the previous fiscal year. These new categories were led by Vuse, the top-selling electronic cigarette in the United States, from RJ Reynolds Vapor Co., as well as glo and modern oral products, led by the best-selling Camel Snus and Velo.

Vuse's market share increased from 37.4% in the previous report to 39%, while Juul decreased from 30.7% to 29.4%, according to the latest analysis of convenience store data by Nielsen. The analysis covers the four weeks up to August 13th and mainly includes large chain stores, according to Barclays Bank. For smaller chain stores, the team infers trends, which is why trend changes may not appear immediately in Nielsen data.

In recent months, the possibility of Juul Labs Inc.'s e-cigarettes being banned from retail shelves in the United States has accelerated the market share growth of Vuse. In May, British American Tobacco launched its disposable Vuse Go in the United Kingdom and plans to further enter the market in the second half of 2022.

Jack Bowles, the CEO of British American Tobacco, expressed confidence in June that the company will achieve its goal of generating at least $6.79 billion in annual revenue from new categories by 2025. The manufacturer reported spending approximately $1.25 billion on developing new products in the first half of 2022.

The BAT Assembly Report, released in June, summarized the scientific research results over the past ten years on smoke-free products. Some studies found that e-cigarettes reduce risk, while others warned that such products are no safer than conventional cigarettes.

In June, O'Leary stated that this paper is a comprehensive summary of more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers and other evidence published by an estimated 50 institutions over the past decade.

We hope that this paper will serve as a resource for public health authorities and support adult smokers in seeking a breadth of existing scientific evidence to inform their choices.

In July, British American Tobacco (BAT) launched the hyper X2 version of its glo brand in Tokyo, with the aim of capturing a larger share of the growing market for heat-not-burn products and closing the innovation gap. The product is not currently available in the United States, but as Japan is the largest market for heat-not-burn and accounts for around 85% of sales for traditional cigarettes, the performance of glo hyper X2 is crucial for BAT. The company stated that the hyper X2 version "provides advanced induction heating technology in a smaller, lighter device...with a separate boosting function that accelerates heating speed.

Kingsley Wheaton, the Chief Marketing Officer of British American Tobacco, has stated that the release of Hyper X2 is "another key milestone in our transformation as we build the brands of the future". "Since launching our first glo product in Japan in 2016, we have used deep consumer insights, science, and innovation to develop glo into a billion-dollar global brand." Hyper X2 will be rolled out in an additional 24 global markets where the glo product is sold.

Statement

This article is compiled from third-party information and is intended for industry communication and learning purposes only.

This article does not represent the views of 2FIRSTS and 2FIRSTS is unable to confirm the truthfulness and accuracy of the content. The translation of this article is intended for communication and research within the industry.

Due to limitations in our level of translation, the translated article may not fully reflect the original text. Please refer to the original text for accuracy.

2FIRSTS fully aligns with the Chinese government's position and statements regarding domestic, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and foreign affairs.

The copyright of the compiled information belongs to the original media and author. If there is any infringement, please contact us for deletion.