Entries Tagged 'Key International Business & Market Developments' ↓

Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. announced that it filed a patent infringement lawsuit recently in the United States District Court against Astra Tobacco Corporation, Delfort Group and German groups Julius Glatz, GmbH, and LIPtec, GmbH, over alleged infringement of their US patent number 6,725,867 for low ignition propensity cigarette paper.

Astra Tobacco is the sales and marketing company for Delfort group in the US.

Glatz GmbH has also recently launched a LIP paper after considerable speculation they were developing a LIP paper.

SWM apparently intends to defend its LIP intellectual property in the courts if necessary. It will be interesting to see if their patents are robust enough to withstand close scrutiny.

comments welcome………………..

In an historic first for public health, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) of the UK’s National Health Service overwhelming approved tobacco harm reduction as a key component in England’s ten year plan to reduce cigarette smoking by half.  The US FDA should follow the UK’s lead.  The announcement and a news excerpt are below, the press release is attached, and the full report “A Smokefree Future” is at http://www.dh.gov.uk/dr_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_111748.pdf

Interesting development in the UK.

What are your thoughts?

Do you see the FDA following suit?

Even before it opened TabInfo Asia 2009, held in Bangkok Thailand November 11-13, had problems which only became worse.

Originally arranged as a private Tobacco Industry event, the Thai government declared it public shortly before opening. This meant all Thai tobacco restrictions on advertising and tobacco product display (which are stringent) were effective – something the organizers (Tobacco Reporter and Think Event Marketing) thought had been covered.

Caught wrong-footed the organizers rushed to issue statements to exhibitors advising the new restrictions and the penalties for violators. With this back-drop it became unviable to show any tobacco products or advertising without risking fines and / or imprisonment - something not too many exhibitors were willing to risk.

Under goverment pressure the Thai Tobacco Monopoly converted their mega show-case anchor stand into a Welcome to Thailand Center.

Demonstrators gathered outside the site to protest on the first day – kept at bay by last-minute security personnel.

Total attendance was less than 1,000 visitors over three days leaving plenty of time to renew acquaintances with tobacco colleagues and fellow exhibitors from around the world. Opportunities to develop contacts and conduct business evaporated -leaving dismay and cost.

Post exhibition; the original decision to hold a show in Thailand looked flawed. The exhibition hall at the Impact Centre (sic)  was a considerable distance from the centre of Bangkok requiring a commute of 40 minutes each way – assuming traffic cooperated (which it didn’t.) Predictably exhibitors were upset – raising the broader issue of the number of Tobacco exhibitions in close proximity between Tobacco Reporter (TR), World Tobacco (WT) and Tobacco Intenational (TI.)

To illustrate; in 2010 Tobacco International (TI) holds its annual show in Krakow Poland April 15-17. WT plans its show in Hyderabad India April 21/21, TR a networking forum (gtnf) in Bangalore in October – followed by WT Asia in Jakarta October 27-29. 2011 sees a WT show in Munich November 8-10 then TR Prague November 15-18. WT plans another show in Jakarta in November 2012.

The industry can’t keep up. The Tobacco Industry cost structure has changed and the show organizers show no sign of acknowledging this fundamental shift. The signs are all around. Big tobacco withdrew its participation about 10 years ago, followed by the larger machinery suppliers. Shows have shrunk and so has attendance.

The show organizers need to reconsider their events as there is mounting evidence it is unsustainable.

Feel free to add your comments and suggestions…………………………

Click on the link below to let the Food and Drug Administration know what you think about the new Waxman-Kennedy law providing the FDA with regulatory authority over the tobacco industry.

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=09000064809e74eb

This link takes you directly to Regulations.gov and the FDA’s Comment Page on this regulation. You can write whatever you want since a public comment period is indeed open to everyone equally: FDA does not look at who sent the comment only at the comment per se to see if it is useful to them as they plan their regulatory agenda.

As a reader on TobaccoToday, you are only too aware of the US Government’s evolving controls over the tobacco industry through FDA regulation and the role that Altria/Philip Morris USA has played in a process that saw them write this legislation alongside the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. As a reader you are only too aware that the public health community has been divided over the merits of this law and that PM expects to become a major beneficiary given that the law is directed largely at youth initiation not at adult smokers. It raises the bar on Tobacco Harm Reduction so high that Marlboro has little to fear from new products such as eCigarettes effectively enabling the most used cigarette brand to gain from further point of use/sale practices given that advertising is virtually eliminated. Adult smokers, still faced with the “quit or die” mentality that both PM and Tobacco Control encourage, are now less likely to learn that alternative forms of tobacco consumption are less harmful.

After you fill out the comments on Regulations.gov, feel free to copy and paste your comments as a comment to this blog, so your fellow readers at TobaccoToday can follow the progression of comments AND perhaps get inspired to comment themselves.

The World Tobacco Asia – 2009, exhibition and congress was held again in Bali Indonesia at the Westin Nusa Dua – April 22 – 24 2009.

The resort is gorgeous and a great location for the exhibition as the center is within the resort complex. It was well organized and exhibitor participation reasonable – although many said it was small. Another plus is Indonesia’s relaxed smoking policy and regulations: There aren’t any!

Visitor traffic was the usual mixture of suppliers and vendors. Missing were lots of new local faces and contacts as well as any significant showing from the multi-nationals (PMI, JTI and BAT.)

The WT staff did a great job with organization and were rewarded on their UK return with the news the magazine was closing to concentrate on Events only which will be promoted by TJI.

Victim of a declining tobacco market or contracting print media market – or both?

We wish those let go from WT all the best and thank them for their good work and dedication to the Industry.

The e-cigarette was almost unknown a little over a year ago – not so today. It is the hottest and most controversial product to hit the tobacco industry in recent history – and it’s kicking up a storm!

It is a game changer on several front and sits squarely in the front line (read firing line) of tobacco harm reduction.

Congress wants to ban it. FDA may do so – on the basis it is a drug-delivery device (nicotine) not a tobacco product.

The traditional tobacco industry sees competition as does big pharma which sees it as a threat to its highly profitable  NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy) products – which are considerably more expensive.

Public Health officials cite untested and unproven technology and efficacy. True; in the strictest sense, while completely ignoring the greater issue of protecting public health in self-protecting its own fiefdom. Even the most preliminary research shows it is likely to be considerably safer than cigarette smoking.

Most importantly comsumers want it.

Now you can have your say. Use this forum to make your case.

Use the link to particapte in this survey. Help at least keep the arena competitive, lively and provide consumers with choice.

http://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/research/survey.html 

Good luck and have fun.

I’d like to explore what some believe is the truth behind the “anti-smoking” movement. The following thoughts may be controversial to some. So let’s get right to the topic of discussion!

Some in the industry believe Big Pharma in it’s quest to gain control of the nicotine empire has been a great supporter of the anti-smoking movement. Many will tell you that the anti-smoking movement has just been a cover for the anti-tobacco movement. An anti-tobacco movement that bodes well for the pharmaceutical industry.

At stake is the control of the largest market known to humanity, with an estimated 1.2 billion customers on this planet. The projected financial returns to Big pharma from smoking “cessation” (which, in reality, is not cessation, but a different way to assume nicotine) are truly staggering, and beyond the imagination of many including those in the tobacco industry. The battle is well worth the multi-billion dollar investments by Big Pharma as it seeks to control international and national institutions, politicians, and the media.

I admit I have a bias. I have spent my entire life in the tobacco industry. Am I just blinded by my bias or am I on target? I have watched those on the anti side argue the “no smoke deal” only to win that battle but not be satisfied. They then take to what I believe was their true cause an “anti-tobacco” movement. The tobacco industry has been accused of misleading the public. But has Big Pharma taken over that role? Is the government their tool as it seems that harm reduction is a “no-no” unless governed by Big Pharma and in the very near future it’s partner, the FDA?

If you disagree with my thoughts, let me know why. If you agree I’d like to know why. What are your thoughts? What do you think about Big Pharma and Nicotine? Do you agree or disagree about their involvement in the anti-smoking movement? The anti-tobacco movement?

Since Sweden’s Trade Minister Ewa Bjorling earlier this month called on the European Union to lift its ban on Swedish snus, politicians have become divided on whether the moist tobacco product should be made an issue in European Parliamentary elections, with Swedish candidate Ella Bohlin saying there is no demand to legalize snus from other EU member nations, and a rival candidate Anders Edberg saying there is no evidence that snus is harmful to people’s health. Sweden, which is preparing to take over the rotating EU presidency in July 2009, has been fighting the EU directive that bans the sales of snus in all EU nations except Sweden. The EU ban was introduced in 1992, but Sweden obtained an exemption when it joined the EU in 1995. Some researchers and anti-tobacco activists say snus and some other forms of snuff could help smokers kick the habit. Snus is at least 50% less likely to lead to heart disease compared to cigarettes and unlikely to cause lung cancer, according to an EU committee report. It is steam-cured, so it is said to contain lower concentrations of nitrosamines and other carcinogens compared to other tobacco products. Sweden’s smoking rate is 16%, the lowest in western Europe, according to the World Health Organization (Irish Times 4/21).

I have always been interested in the “Swedish Experience” as it relates to the high prevalence of individuals who use Swedish Snus.  It does makes me wonder why the EU would not remove the ban when the results seem so evident? Is this a political issue? Will it change? What are your thoughts? But let’s look at this from an other point, is this just a classic example that since it’s tobacco it’s evil maybe redundant but isn’t it about time that folks understand that “relative harm of tobacco products”does matter? Is’nt it about time that folks are told the truth rather than tobacco always being a political football? What are your thoughts? Oh, and what are your thoughts on the US future as it relates to Snus?