British American Tobacco Plc (BATS), the maker of Lucky Strikes, created a unit that will seek to develop nicotine products for people wanting an alternative to cigarettes as governments aim to reduce smoking.
Nicoventures Ltd. plans to develop tobacco-free nicotine products, Kate Matrunola, a spokeswoman for London-based BAT, said today. The unit employs four people and will discuss with regulators what sort of products might work, she said by phone.
“It’s not for cessation,” Matrunola said. “There is an unmet need out there for consumers” who don’t want to quit.
Tobacco companies have spent decades trying to develop a safer alternative to smoking, including RJR Nabisco Inc.’s 1988 test of Premier, a smokeless cigarette. Star Scientific Inc., based in Glen Allen, Virginia, said March 23 that a decision by U.S. regulators cleared the way for it to start selling tobacco lozenges. The global market for cigarettes excluding China, which is largely closed to foreign tobacco companies, will probably shrink by 2.5 percent in 2011, BAT Chief Executive Officer Nicandro Durante said Feb. 24.
Restrictions on advertising and marketing may be a challenge to smoking substitutes, according to analysts.
“The biggest obstacles will be regulatory,” Erik Bloomquist, an analyst at Berenberg Bank in London, said by phone. “The mindset in much of public health around tobacco is quit or die, not harm-reduction.”
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