FDA memo raises new questions about fruity vape authorization
AP News • • business
Key Points:
- The FDA recently authorized fruit-flavored e-cigarettes from Glas Inc., despite data showing these flavors were not significantly better at helping smokers quit compared to tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes.
- This decision contradicts the FDA’s previous stance that fruit and dessert flavors appeal to youth and require higher evidence of adult health benefits for approval.
- The FDA memo justifying the authorization was unusually brief and delayed, lacking detailed data such as the number of smokers studied, raising transparency concerns.
- The authorization faced immediate backlash from health groups and lawmakers, with some senators calling it a "shortsighted and reckless decision" and demanding further explanation.
- Glas’s vape products include an age-verification app, which the FDA cited as a factor in reducing youth use risk, allowing them to approve fruit flavors without demonstrating added adult benefit.