Philip Morris Files Application for Electronically Heated Tobacco Product

The company is seeking approval from the FDA for IQOS, which is already available in some overseas markets.

December 09, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Philip Morris International has submitted a Modified Risk Tobacco Product application for its electronically heated tobacco product with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products. The company wants FDA approval to market the device, called iQOS, as a healthier alternative to cigarettes. Philip Morris claims the product only emits 10% of the fumes that burning tobacco does.

IQOS heats up in a special device, allowing users to inhale a vapor rather than smoke like in a traditional cigarette. Philip Morris already sells the product in Japan and the United Kingdom, but it doesn’t market it as “healthier than cigarettes,” The Consumerist reports.

Philip Morris also has opened physical stores in England, Italy, Japan and Switzerland to promote iQOS. The company anticipates the FDA taking a minimum of 60 days to complete an administrative review to determine whether to accept the application for substantive review.

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