Advancing solutions to build a smokeless world

By Wade Huckabee, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Transformation at Reynolds American Inc.

August 5, 2024

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Mail

What will it take to bring forward a meaningful step change in transitioning adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes to improve public health in the United States? In my role leading Strategy and Transformation for Reynolds American, I am deeply committed to finding pragmatic solutions which address this critical question.

Addressing this question is profoundly important for America’s public health agenda. Adult smokers concerned about their health should quit, but those who are not interested in quitting deserve to have alternatives other than choosing to continue to smoke. While alternative nicotine products are not risk free, I agree with FDA Center for Tobacco Products Director Dr. Brian King when he stated, “I’m fully aware of the misperceptions that are out there and aren’t consistent with the known science. We do know that e-cigarettes—as a general class—have markedly less risk than a combustible cigarette product.” ¹

Today, there are more than one billion cigarette smokers worldwide, including almost 30 million adult smokers in the U.S. While there are differing views on how we get there, there is common ground in the mutual desire to reduce harm caused by smoking. Together we must determine how to responsibly inform and encourage adult smokers to move to potentially less risky alternatives.

The current U.S. system for regulating tobacco needs to be significantly improved. The Tobacco Control Act, which was signed into law 15 years ago, no longer reflects the realities of the U.S. landscape. We know that sustained and lasting changes to adult smoker behavior require access to evidenced-based information and alternative products. However, innovation has outpaced regulation, and rigorous science is often overlooked in debates that are more ideological than focused on the best interests of public health.

The way forward is complex, yes, but compelling. To improve health outcomes for adult smokers in the U.S., progress in four crucial areas is needed. Specifically: sensible regulation, clear paths for innovation, adult nicotine consumer choice and transparent collaboration.

I support sensible regulation in the tobacco industry; regulation that is based on sound science and high quality standards allows for responsible innovation and prioritizes access to alternatives for adult smokers. Sensible regulation also requires effective and swift enforcement, ensuring that stern penalties are in place to eliminate the entry of unlawful products, such as illicit disposable vapor products marketed at youth. Currently, illicit vapor products have saturated the U.S. market, undermining the legitimacy of vapor products which may help adult smokers migrate away from cigarettes.

Vapor products have been available in the U.S. for over a decade. However, despite scientific evidence, little progress has been made in outlining clear regulatory policy and published product standards about their role in reducing smoking rates. Products exist today that have been shown to potentially reduce risk when compared to cigarettes; however, based on the current regulatory process, they will not be available to adult smokers in the U.S. for years. The pace of the process stifles innovation and undermines adult smokers’ access to alternative product choices.

Since the inception of the Center for Tobacco Products in 2009, applications for over 26 million next-generation nicotine products have been filed, yet only 46 have received Marketing Granted Orders.² Of these products, most are not currently available on market today and those that are comprise a tiny fraction of the marketplace. Similarly, there are only three FDA-authorized smoking cessation therapies. No new treatment has been approved in almost 20 years.³

There is an urgent need to revisit how new products are brought to market, while maintaining a stringent and transparent regulatory review process. To accomplish this requires an impartial system that encourages, enables and supports responsible innovation which prioritizes migrating adult smokers away from cigarettes on a large scale, while ensuring prevention of underage usage.

For Reynolds, it is clear. We do not want underage use of tobacco or nicotine products. Period. Sensible regulation is foundational to preventing youth access while providing adult smokers with choice. Without the proper regulation in place the risk of undermining progress in Tobacco Harm Reduction and increasing youth usage remains too high.

Proof points that this approach works exist.  Other countries such as Sweden, with a smoking rate of just 5.6 percent, demonstrate what can be accomplished when government, public health and industry collaborate to bring smokeless products to market. In the U.S., it is time to better educate adult smokers about alternative products to cigarettes, implement policies based on scientific evidence and empower adult smokers with facts so they can make informed choices about potentially reduced risk products. When it comes to Tobacco Harm Reduction, knowledge and choice drive change.

Achieving a step change in continuing to reduce smoking rates requires all stakeholders to embrace transparent collaboration. In a fast-changing landscape driven by market demand, every stakeholder—from policymakers, regulators and advocacy groups to the healthcare and scientific communities—plays a significant role. Current practices that exclude tobacco industry involvement only serve to stymie progress.

Today a great deal of rigorous science is generated by industry and submitted to FDA, yet this science is excluded from important scientific and policy forums where constructive discussion is needed. To improve public health for millions of American smokers, we can no longer afford the status quo—where interested parties agree to disagree and little to no meaningful progress is made.

Reynolds believes there is a better way, and we are committed to being part of the solution. We advocate for science-based policies, high-quality product standards, clear processes and sensible regulation that is applied equally, with swift and meaningful enforcement. These fundamental tenets are core to ensuring adult smokers have access to facts and alternative products, while also prohibiting underage use.

Now is the moment to move forward. To those who share a common ambition to reduce the harm from cigarette smoking, we invite dialogue and collaboration. Let’s work together towards pragmatic, science-based solutions to get us all there. The opportunity to deliver one of the most significant advancements for the future of public health is too promising to pass up. 

Learn more about Reynolds American Inc. here

---

The content is paid for and supplied by advertiser. The Washington Post was not involved in the creation of this content.