The U.S. tobacco giant Altria Group has submitted an application for approval of its new oral nicotine pouches on! Plus to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The subsidiary Helix Innovations has filed the application for three varieties of nicotine pouches: tobacco, mint, and wintergreen, as the company announced on Wednesday.
Altria, the largest cigarette manufacturer in the USA, stated that nicotine pouches are used by both chewing tobacco and cigarette consumers. The on! Plus pouches are larger than the leading U.S. brands of tobacco-based nicotine products, the company added.
In 2019, the Marlboro manufacturer entered the growing market for oral nicotine products after signing an agreement with Burger Söhne to acquire an 80 percent stake in some companies that market on!-products. In December 2020 and April 2021, Altria subsidiaries completed transactions to purchase the remaining 20% of the global on!-business for approximately 250 million US dollars.
In the last quarter, Altria's revenue from oral tobacco products rose by 3.7% to 651 million US dollars.
These news come after the manufacturer of Zyn nicotine pouches, which was acquired by Philip Morris International in 2022, suspended nationwide sales on its US website. Local officials in Washington, D.C. are currently investigating whether the company is violating the district's ban on flavored products.
Altria's move to seek FDA approval for on! Plus underscores the importance of the evolving nicotine market as tobacco companies diversify their product portfolios and develop alternative nicotine products to meet changing consumer preferences.
