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Tag: Vuse

  • Vuse Extends Lead Over Juul

    Vuse Extends Lead Over Juul

    Photo: BAT

    The prospect of a potential on sales of Juul Labs e-cigarettes in the U.S. has helped accelerate the market share gains of R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.’s Vuse brand, reports the Winston-Salem Journal.

    According to the latest Nielsen analysis of convenience store data, which covers the four-week period ending Aug. 13, Vuse’s market share rose from 37.4 percent in the previous report to 39 percent compared with Juul declining from 30.7 percent to 29.4 percent.

    Meanwhile, No. 3 Njoy dropped 3 percent to 2.9 percent while Fontem Ventures’ blu e-cigarettes slipped from 1.7 percent to 1.6 percent.

    In June, the Food and Drug Administration rejected Juul Labs’ premarket tobacco product applications, saying that the company has submitted insufficient evidence that its products were appropriate for the protection of public health. 

    While the agency subsequently suspended its marketing denial order (MDO), citing scientific issues in the application that warrant additional review, the agency stressed that the stay does not rescind the MDO, leaving Juul in limbo.

    Vuse, by contrast, has received FDA marketing approval for several product varieties, including Vuse Vibe and Vuse Ciro and Vuse Solo products.

    In a note to investors, Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog said that Juul’s market share decline occurred in part “following confusion around the FDA’s marketing denial order against Juul.”

    As recently as May 2019—before the company started withdrawing flavored products in response to regulatory pressures—Juul accounted for 74.6 percent of the U.S. e-cigarette market.

  • Motley Fool: Juul Exit Would Crown BAT King

    Motley Fool: Juul Exit Would Crown BAT King

    Photo: BAT

    The removal of Juul products would hand the U.S. market to British American Tobacco, according to Motley Fool.

    Juul, which is partly owned by Altria Group, had been the undisputed e-cigarette leader, with a near-80 percent share of the market at the height of its success. The latest Nielsen data puts Vuse’s share at 35.1 percent compared to 33.1 percent for Juul. Third-place NJOY has a 3.1 percent share.

    Last year, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that Philip Morris International’s IQOS heated tobacco device infringed on BAT’s patents, and that device was prohibited from being imported and sold in the U.S. Altria had partnered with PMI to market and distribute IQOS in the U.S., but the ITC ruling disrupted those plans.

    Because Altria shelved its MarkTen e-cigarette brand in  favor of partnering with PMI, the ITC ruling leaves it without a vapor product. The FDA has all but wiped out the rest of its investment in Juul. In 2018, Altria paid $12.8 billion for a 35 percent in the vapor company. As of the end of the first quarter of 2022, Altria had reduced the fair value of its Juul position to just $1.6 billion.

    If the FDA is successful in eliminating Juul, BAT will essentially have no roadblocks in its way to market dominance.

    Vuse turned profitable in the U.S. for BAT in the second half of last year, and it’s been able to grow its share because it discounted the device and the consumables to attract users. Earlier this month, BAT said it was now ready to raise prices on both. With a major competitor removed from the market, this should provide the company with a big boost in profits.

    BAT’s vapor revenue grew 59 percent last year to £927 million ($1.14 billion), while its own heated tobacco products, marketed under the Glo brand, saw a 46 percent rise in sales to £853 million.

  • Jury Awards PMI $10.7 Million in Patent Case

    Jury Awards PMI $10.7 Million in Patent Case

    Photo: md3d

    A U.S. jury awarded Philip Morris International $10.7 million on June 15 after finding that R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.’s Vuse e-cigarettes violate its patent rights, reports Reuters.

    The federal court jury in Alexandria, Virginia, said RJR’s Vuse Solo and Alto devices infringe two PMI patents covering parts of a vaping device for heating substances and preventing leaks. At the same time, the jury cleared Vuse Alto of infringing one of the patents.

    A Philip Morris spokesperson told Reuters the company was “grateful” for the verdict, which “rejects an attempt by BAT to free-ride on our hard work and investment.”

    A spokesman for RJR indicated it may appeal the June 14 verdict.

    The case is part of a multi-front patent dispute between PMI and RJR parent company British American Tobacco.

    The recent verdict concerned counterclaims in RJR’s ongoing patent lawsuit over PMI’s IQOS heated-tobacco device. RJR won an order blocking IQOS imports at the U.S. International Trade Commission last November.

    PMI succeeded earlier this year in invalidating parts of some patents RJR accused it of infringing at a U.S. Patent Office tribunal.

    BAT has also sued PMI over IQOS in the United Kingdom, Germany and elsewhere. A PMI filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year said IQOS patent lawsuits and challenges outside of the U.S. have “repeatedly and universally failed.”

    Altria has separately sued RJR for patent infringement in North Carolina over the Vuse line, in another case that is still pending.

  • BAT Conducts Real-World Vuse Study

    BAT Conducts Real-World Vuse Study

    Photo: BAT

    BAT has conducted a first-of-its-kind study of Vuse designed to assess and provide insights into the real-world health impact of vaping. The study compares biomarker measures from Vuse consumers who have been using the product for over six months with the results from smokers, former smokers and never-smokers. Protocol details explaining the innovative design of the latest study were published in the Journal of Health and Environmental Research.

    The cross-sectional study design uses a single set of data readings to measure exposure to certain toxicants and indicators of potential harm related to several smoking-related diseases in people who have been exclusively using Vuse.

    BAT hopes that the results, which are currently being analyzed and will be published later this year, will provide further supportive evidence that using Vuse can reduce relative risk for certain diseases among adult consumers compared to smoking. The company expects that once available, the results will add to the growing body of evidence on Vuse’s potential as a reduced-risk product.

    “This innovative study demonstrates our commitment to researching the reduced-risk potential of our new category products,” said Sharon Goodall, BAT’s group head of regulatory sciences, in a statement.

    “What makes it particularly relevant and exciting is that the results generated will be from people who have been using Vuse as they normally would for more than six months prior to testing. The results will provide important new insights and show us the differences between Vuse users, smokers and former smokers across a range of important biomarkers thought to be predictive of disease development. We look forward to sharing the data once available.”

  • RAI Heating Technology Declared ‘Unpatentable’

    RAI Heating Technology Declared ‘Unpatentable’

    Photo: tashatuvango

    The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has determined as unpatentable several claims by RAI Strategic Holdings relating to tobacco-heating technology, reports The Winston-Salem Journal.

    According to federal law, a claim is unpatentable if “the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains.”

    The board’s rulings are the latest developments involving several patent infringement lawsuits between RAI and Philip Morris International.

    In November, the U.S. Trade Representative affirmed a legal victory by RAI’s parent company, British American Tobacco, against rival Philip Morris International and its U.S. partner, Philip Morris USA.

    On Sept. 29, the U.S. International Trade Commission issued a final determination of a violation of the Tariff Act of 1930 by Philip Morris USA and Altria Client Services as it related to two BAT product patents.

    Altria Group, parent of PM USA, asked trade representative Katherine Tai to overturn the ban. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office confirmed no action was taken by Tai.

    As a result of the ITC ruling, PM USA is barred from importing PMI’s IQOS 2.4, IQOS 3 and IQOS 3 Duo heat-not-burn cigarette products into the United States.

    PMI welcomed the PTAB ruling. “We are extremely pleased with the well-reasoned PTAB decisions, which further demonstrate the futility of RJR/BAT’s efforts to litigate this patent family,” a PMI spokesperson said.

    Reynolds said in a statement that “we disagree with the decision finding (the ‘915’ ruling) invalid partially contradicting the International Trade Commission’s ruling, which was based on a highly developed evidentiary record, including a six-day trial with live witnesses.”

    Reynolds said an ITC panel and the full commission “agreed with Reynolds’ position regarding the patent.”

    PTAB decisions can be appealed for review to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which Reynolds has indicated it will pursue.

    Another option for Reynolds, according to the patent board’s ruling, is for Reynolds to amend its patents in dispute or request a reexamination of the challenged patent.