Zyn nicotine pouches can help smokers quit, says former US FDA exec

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, an American physician and former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

No less than a former top official of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asserted that the surging popularity of Zyn nicotine pouches is helping more American smokers quit cigarettes.

“If we can convert more currently addicted adult smokers onto these modified risk products [Zyn nicotine pouches] that don’t have all the harms associated with combustion, we can achieve a substantial net public health benefit,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, an American physician and former commissioner of the US FDA, said in an interview over CNBC.

Dr. Gottlieb made this remark in response to the growing popularity of Zyn nicotine pouches in the US which have quickly overtaken the sales of other brands in just a few months.

Zyn nicotine pouches are smokeless oral nicotine delivery products, and Dr. Gottlieb said the transition of adult smokers to these modified-risk products could be beneficial to public health.

He noted further that this should reignite conversations about harm reduction, as the absence of burning and smoke in products like nicotine pouches make it a beneficial alternative to combustible tobacco products that produce smoke, which is the primary cause of smoking-related deaths and diseases, and not nicotine.

“While nicotine is not a completely safe substance, it isn’t what causes death and disease,” he said.

Tobacco harm reduction (THR) is touted by experts as a scientific, evidence-based public health strategy that can help millions of smokers transition away from smoking.

Experts believe that increasing access to and acceptance of modified risk products could help mitigate the death and disease burden associated with cigarette smoking, pointing to countries like Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Japan, which have seen significant success with THR.

According to Dr. Gottlieb, 28 million Americans still smoke cigarettes. “While rates of smoking have come down in recent years, the rate of reduction has slowed down. And the way we’re going to make substantial inroads in reducing those numbers even further is trying to offer adult smokers products that don’t pose the same risks as cigarettes,” he said.

Prof. David Sweanor, an adjunct law professor at the University of Ottawa and a leading harm reduction advocate, confirmed that many smokers have transitioned to harm reduction products such as vapes, heated tobacco, and nicotine pouches from traditional combustible cigarettes.

“A fascinating aspect of the rapid transformation of the market is that Zyn is now a bigger seller than Copenhagen, Grizzly, and Skoal,” said Prof. Sweanor, referring to other smokeless tobacco brands.

“Those have long been the big brands in smokeless tobacco. That Zyn now has higher unit sales than any of them shows how dynamic this formerly staid market has become,” he added.

The explosive growth and popularity of Zyn nicotine pouches in the US has been attributed largely to social media, sparking ongoing debates in the US about oversight of these products.

READ: Change for smokers is here — PMFTC

Dr. Gottleib asserts that there is a role for these products being marketed to adult smokers as a transitional product away from smoking, but that proper regulation is key.

He said that as “a relatively new phenomenon by some self-winding people on social media,” social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, and Tiktok could also be doing more by stepping into police inappropriate advertising in their marketplace.

“There are currently 600,000 applications pending with FDA for different tobacco products. I would be prioritizing some of these modified-risk tobacco products to get them approved… to make sure the positioning in the marketplace is appropriate…,” he said.