FDA Attack on Underage Vaping Could Backfire
By Robert Goldberg
May 06, 2019
REAL CLEAR HEALTH
Scott Gottlieb’s extraordinarily productive tenure as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be remembered for his crusading against underage use of E-cigarettes and the companies that produce them. But his legacy is not to be found in his jawboning against the retail distribution of vaping products but in the guidance the FDA issued on developing a nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) product that reduces tobacco use.
Gottlieb announced the guidance in February, but it received little, if any, media coverage. That’s too bad because the document lays out a clear path to fully realize the contribution of vaping to the public health. Specifically, he noted:
“Novel products with different characteristics or routes of nicotine delivery have the potential to offer additional opportunities for health-concerned smokers interested in quitting. This could also include products such as electronic nicotine delivery systems like electronic cigarettes, but which would need to be proven safe and effective for smoking cessation and regulated as a drug product. This would allow them to be marketed as a prescription or over-the-counter drug products with medical claims for smoking cessation or related indications – ultimately reducing the likelihood of someone continuing to suffer the clinical consequences of smoking. This is different from our regulation of e-cigarettes as tobacco products.”
And it is different from the public statements Gottlieb was making about e-cigarettes as tobacco products as well. Last September Gottlieb announced the FDA was taking "historic action" by threatening e-cigarette manufacturers with criminal prosecution and sales bans unless they developed plans to reduce the "epidemic" of teen use.
Juul, the leading manufacturer of vaping devices had anticipated the FDA move and had already begun implementation a "Youth Prevention Plan" that eliminated pod flavors, such as cucumber and mango, from the 90,000 or so retail outlets across the country. Flavored pods are still available online, but Juul also had stopped using social media, instituted age verification tools to ensure that purchasers are 21 years of age or older introduced new purchase limits and product serialization.
These actions did not mollify Dr. Gottlieb. Instead, he stepped up his attack. He told Vox: “The dramatic spike of youth [vaping] — that was driven in part at the very least if not largely by Juul. I hope they recognize the problem that’s been created has been created largely by their product.”
While Gottlieb “acknowledged there’s, no definitive data showing the teens now experimenting with vaping are using Juul” he still holds the company responsible for triggering what the regards as a spike in teen addiction to nicotine that could lead to cigarette use.
Meanwhile, the guidance discusses how companies should test the effectiveness of E-cigarettes in reducing tobacco use in the pediatric population: “Given that use of tobacco products frequently starts in early adolescence, drug products approved for smoking cessation have the potential to benefit and be used in the pediatric population. Based on the current prevalence of smoking in younger children, the Agency has waived…requirements for clinical studies of NRT drug products in patients younger than 12 years of age because clinical studies would be highly impracticable in that age group.”
So, the opportunity is there to turn e-cigarettes into medical products that could be available to anyone who needs to quit smoking at any age. Conceivably, vaping products could be available behind the counter along with other heath products that have taken the reverse course from by prescription only to OTC.
Hence, Gottlieb was trying to prod e-cigarette companies to re-introduce themselves as an OTC medical device. The guidance notes to receive OTC approval an NRT product must demonstrate effectiveness in reducing smoking and evidence that the marketing of e-cigarettes increases the safe and effective use of products. This is something companies such as JUUL have shown they can do.
The question is whether his efforts have made it impossible to get an e-cigarette approved as an NRT. In stressing the risk of underage vaping the FDA has contributed to the fact that two-thirds of American adults mistakenly believe that e-cigarettes are just as harmful as smoking. The media’s fearmongering fueled by the FDA attack and spread by so-called consumer groups has incited a movement to ban e-cigarettes altogether. Rather than being able to use vaping to reduce the use of nicotine, people will pick up a pack of cigarettes instead.
Robert Goldberg is Vice President at the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
By Robert Goldberg
May 06, 2019
REAL CLEAR HEALTH
Scott Gottlieb’s extraordinarily productive tenure as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be remembered for his crusading against underage use of E-cigarettes and the companies that produce them. But his legacy is not to be found in his jawboning against the retail distribution of vaping products but in the guidance the FDA issued on developing a nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) product that reduces tobacco use.
Gottlieb announced the guidance in February, but it received little, if any, media coverage. That’s too bad because the document lays out a clear path to fully realize the contribution of vaping to the public health. Specifically, he noted:
“Novel products with different characteristics or routes of nicotine delivery have the potential to offer additional opportunities for health-concerned smokers interested in quitting. This could also include products such as electronic nicotine delivery systems like electronic cigarettes, but which would need to be proven safe and effective for smoking cessation and regulated as a drug product. This would allow them to be marketed as a prescription or over-the-counter drug products with medical claims for smoking cessation or related indications – ultimately reducing the likelihood of someone continuing to suffer the clinical consequences of smoking. This is different from our regulation of e-cigarettes as tobacco products.”
And it is different from the public statements Gottlieb was making about e-cigarettes as tobacco products as well. Last September Gottlieb announced the FDA was taking "historic action" by threatening e-cigarette manufacturers with criminal prosecution and sales bans unless they developed plans to reduce the "epidemic" of teen use.
Juul, the leading manufacturer of vaping devices had anticipated the FDA move and had already begun implementation a "Youth Prevention Plan" that eliminated pod flavors, such as cucumber and mango, from the 90,000 or so retail outlets across the country. Flavored pods are still available online, but Juul also had stopped using social media, instituted age verification tools to ensure that purchasers are 21 years of age or older introduced new purchase limits and product serialization.
These actions did not mollify Dr. Gottlieb. Instead, he stepped up his attack. He told Vox: “The dramatic spike of youth [vaping] — that was driven in part at the very least if not largely by Juul. I hope they recognize the problem that’s been created has been created largely by their product.”
While Gottlieb “acknowledged there’s, no definitive data showing the teens now experimenting with vaping are using Juul” he still holds the company responsible for triggering what the regards as a spike in teen addiction to nicotine that could lead to cigarette use.
Meanwhile, the guidance discusses how companies should test the effectiveness of E-cigarettes in reducing tobacco use in the pediatric population: “Given that use of tobacco products frequently starts in early adolescence, drug products approved for smoking cessation have the potential to benefit and be used in the pediatric population. Based on the current prevalence of smoking in younger children, the Agency has waived…requirements for clinical studies of NRT drug products in patients younger than 12 years of age because clinical studies would be highly impracticable in that age group.”
So, the opportunity is there to turn e-cigarettes into medical products that could be available to anyone who needs to quit smoking at any age. Conceivably, vaping products could be available behind the counter along with other heath products that have taken the reverse course from by prescription only to OTC.
Hence, Gottlieb was trying to prod e-cigarette companies to re-introduce themselves as an OTC medical device. The guidance notes to receive OTC approval an NRT product must demonstrate effectiveness in reducing smoking and evidence that the marketing of e-cigarettes increases the safe and effective use of products. This is something companies such as JUUL have shown they can do.
The question is whether his efforts have made it impossible to get an e-cigarette approved as an NRT. In stressing the risk of underage vaping the FDA has contributed to the fact that two-thirds of American adults mistakenly believe that e-cigarettes are just as harmful as smoking. The media’s fearmongering fueled by the FDA attack and spread by so-called consumer groups has incited a movement to ban e-cigarettes altogether. Rather than being able to use vaping to reduce the use of nicotine, people will pick up a pack of cigarettes instead.
Robert Goldberg is Vice President at the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
