MANAGING & RESOLVING DISPUTES IN THE E-CIGARETTE INDUSTRY
CD: What do you consider to be some of the key trends and developments currently shaping the e-cigarette industry? How would you characterise the current ‘health’ of this sector?
Murphy: I have observed a number of key trends and developments recently shaping the e-cigarette industry. First, ongoing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight and regulation. Second, youth participation, with teen and young adult use of E-Cigs skyrocketing after more than a decade of decline in tobacco use among teens. Third, legacy combustible tobacco companies’ investment in emerging E-Cig business and the use of the Big Tobacco marketing playbook. Fourth, a greater focus on youth-related health concerns, such as addiction, developmental delay and respiratory disease, as justification for strict scrutiny, regulation and bans. A number of states and cities have imposed bans on various aspects of the vaping experience. Fifth, major E-Cig manufacturers are now agreeing to discontinue alleged youth-directed marketing and remove certain flavoured tobacco products from the market. Finally, the emergence of modified-risk tobacco products (MRTPs), like the IQOS tobacco heating system, manufactured by Philip Morris, Inc.
Jan-Mar 2020 issue
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP