BAT Gives Up On Medically Licensed Nicotine Inhaler, Hands Control Back to Creator
05 January 2017 - 10:10PM
Dow Jones News
By Saabira Chaudhuri
British American Tobacco PLC is walking away from its Voke
nicotine inhaler after spending years trying and failing to
commercialize the product.
In a Thursday statement, BAT said it was transferring the
manufacturing and intellectual property rights back to Voke's
creator, Kind Consumer--which will take charge of commercializing
Voke--in return for deferred contingent payments.
A spokeswoman for Kind Consumer didn't immediately respond to a
request for comment.
BAT said it would focus on its heat-not-burn and vapor products
going forward.
Paul Triniman, chief executive of Kind, said the company hopes
to bring Voke to the market "as soon as possible."
BAT in 2014 received a medicinal license for Voke from the
U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, marking
the first time a product from a major tobacco company had been
licensed by a Western government. But the London-based tobacco
giant delayed the launch several times after being unable to find a
way to manufacture Voke at scale.
Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at saabira.chaudhuri@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 05, 2017 05:55 ET (10:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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