22nd Century Group to Highlight its Reduced Nicotine Technology at The Food and Drug Law Institute’s Tobacco and Nicotine Products Regulation and Policy Conference

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration to provide an update on the Agency’s Comprehensive Plan for Tobacco and Nicotine Regulation

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE American: XXII), a leading plant-based, life science company driven by next generation biotechnology, announced today that Mitchell R. Zeller, director of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will provide an update on the FDA’s Comprehensive Plan for Tobacco and Nicotine Products at the Food and Drug Law Institute’s (FDLI) Tobacco and Nicotine Products Regulation and Policy Conference on Wednesday October 21, 2020 at 11:15 a.m. ET.  

In addition to Zeller’s presentation, 22nd Century’s Vice President of Regulatory Science, John Pritchard, will participate in the conference’s “Nicotine and Harm Reduction” panel on Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 1:15 p.m. ET. 22nd Century’s Michael Zercher, president and chief operating officer, and Steven Przybyla, general counsel and corporate secretary, will also be in attendance.   

“I am delighted to participate in this important conference and to support, with our reduced nicotine technology, FDA’s plan to implement a reduced nicotine product standard,” said Pritchard. “The science is clear. By limiting the nicotine content of all combustible cigarettes to levels achieved in our VLN cigarettes, the FDA projects that five million adult smokers would quit one year after implementation and over eight million American lives would be saved by the end of the century. Our goal for this conference, as in general, is to advance common-sense tobacco and nicotine regulation and unite against the tragic toll of cigarette addiction to improve public health in America.”

This year’s conference brings together a diverse group of stakeholders, including public health advocates, researchers, manufacturers, lawyers, consumer interest groups, entrepreneurs, governmental agencies, and others to discuss effective regulation across the broad spectrum of tobacco and nicotine products in the United States.

Nicotine remains a central part of the FDA’s landmark 2017 Comprehensive Plan for Tobacco and Nicotine Regulation, which addresses the root cause of nearly half a million American deaths each year, caused by highly addictive tobacco products. Upon announcing the FDA’s plan to substantially reduce the nicotine in cigarettes, former FDA Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb remarked: “The overwhelming amount of death and disease attributable to tobacco is caused by addiction to cigarettes – the only legal consumer product that, when used as intended, will kill half of all long-term users.”