BAT Gives Up On Medically Licensed Nicotine Inhaler, Hands Control Back to Creator

By Saabira Chaudhuri

British American Tobacco PLC is walking away from its Voke nicotine inhaler after spending years trying and failing to commercialize the product.

In a Thursday statement, BAT said it was transferring the manufacturing and intellectual property rights back to Voke's creator, Kind Consumer--which will take charge of commercializing Voke--in return for deferred contingent payments.

A spokeswoman for Kind Consumer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

BAT said it would focus on its heat-not-burn and vapor products going forward.

Paul Triniman, chief executive of Kind, said the company hopes to bring Voke to the market "as soon as possible."

BAT in 2014 received a medicinal license for Voke from the U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, marking the first time a product from a major tobacco company had been licensed by a Western government. But the London-based tobacco giant delayed the launch several times after being unable to find a way to manufacture Voke at scale.

Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 05, 2017 05:55 ET (10:55 GMT)

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