Developing new products requires not just great skill, insights and expertise but commitment too. And that commitment is particularly strong when it comes to our ability to develop effective New Category products that can offer consumers enjoyable and less risky* alternatives to smoking.
Our mission to reduce tobacco harm continues to be at the core of our business. That is why our R&D teams are central to achieving our ambitions of reducing the health impact of our business.
Today, we operate in a broad spectrum of scientific fields including molecular biology, toxicology and chemistry, and it is that breadth of expertise which fuels the relentless innovation and learning that sets us apart as an industry leader.
Our scientists are constantly embracing new technologies, methodologies and consumer trends to push further at the scientific boundaries. Their robust and peer-reviewed science ensures that our reduced-risk products* (RRPs) provide greater choice to our consumers.
Most of the harm associated with conventional cigarettes is caused by the toxicants in the smoke produced by the burning of tobacco. We are dedicated to the development and commercialisation of alternative tobacco and nicotine products that don’t burn tobacco.
Our portfolio of non-combustible RRPs comprises three categories of products:
There is growing consensus among many members of the public health community and academics about the role of vapour products as a reduced-risk*† alternative to smoking. This is supported by a wealth of other evidence reviews, studies and reports throughout the world1. In the UK, for example, Public Health England has published a series of expert reviews of the latest evidence, drawing on peer-reviewed literature, surveys and other reports, concluding: “based on current knowledge, vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking”.
By heating tobacco rather than burning, THPs have the potential to be reduced risk* compared to smoking. Although most research has been conducted by the industry, an increasing number of independent reports are broadly aligned with our findings and support the role of THPs as a less risky* alternative. For example, a study commissioned by the UK Department of Health in 2017 found that people using THPs were exposed to around 50–90% less of the “harmful and potentially harmful” compounds compared with conventional cigarettes 2 .
In 2018, Public Health England, while highlighting the need for more research, found that “compared with cigarettes, heated tobacco products are likely to expose users and bystanders to lower levels of particulate matter, and harmful and potentially harmful compounds 3 .” More long-term studies are needed which is why we launched our year-long clinical study to evaluate the reduced-risk potential of glo, our flagship THP. The six-month data show that smokers who switched exclusively to glo significantly reduced their exposure to some of the most harmful cigarette smoke toxicants, some to a level found in participants who had stopped smoking entirely 4 .
A wealth of epidemiological evidence from Sweden over many decades shows that use of snus, a type of traditional oral tobacco, is substantially less risky than smoking. This has been confirmed by the US FDA which, in 2019, formally recognised that switching completely from cigarettes to a snus product can lower the risks of mouth cancer, heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, emphysema and chronic bronchitis 5 . Our own research has shown that our Modern Oral Products have even fewer and lower levels of toxicants than observed in snus, and toxicological studies have shown that modern oral products have even lower impact on human cells than snus 6 . ** We are confident that further research will support our belief that consumers of modern oral products will be exposed to even fewer toxicants than snus users and modern oral products can be expected to present lower risk than continued cigarette smoking.
Our commitment goes beyond simply conducting the science, we believe it is as important to share it with the wider scientific community, which is why we publish details of our scientific research on this website and submit the results of our research to peer-reviewed scientific journals, irrespective of the findings.
To date, we have published more than 110 papers and manuscripts. These include a series for Vype ePen – the most comprehensive dossier of scientific data published on a single vapour product to date – as well as numerous papers on our flagship THP glo. We also contribute to debates around tobacco harm reduction at conferences and in publications and reports.