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** 1 February 2024
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** UK
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** Why does the UK want to ban disposable vapes and when will it happen? (#1)
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** UK’s vape ban highlights benefit of big tobacco’s run-off strategy (#2)
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** Obesity drug boom pushes Novo Nordisk shares to record high (#3)
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** Call You and Yours: How are smoking and vaping affecting you, your family and your friends? (#4)
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** UK
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** Why does the UK want to ban disposable vapes and when will it happen?
A ban on disposable vapes is expected to come in across the UK as part of a broader clampdown on underage use of e-cigarettes. Rechargeable vaping systems will have to be sold in plainer packaging, and there will also be shop display restrictions as well as higher fines for shops that break the law by selling to under-18s.
The legislation will be debated before the next general election, which is likely to be this year, the health secretary Victoria Atkins told the BBC. The ban could then take effect in early 2025.
As vaping has taken off among adults, so has illicit use by under-18s, especially of disposable vapes, which are initially cheaper than the alternative of using a rechargeable vaping system. In the UK, 9 per cent of 11-to-15-year-olds are now using vapes. Manufacturers are accused of developing versions that appeal to children, with brightly coloured packaging and enticing flavours, including varieties named after fruits or sweet brands. The new legislation would also restrict flavours and mandate plain packaging for rechargeable vape systems.
Single-use vapes have also come under fire because they are so often discarded as litter rather than being properly disposed of. They are difficult to recycle because they are part plastic, part copper and contain lithium batteries. In the UK, for instance, disposable vape litter has doubled in the past two years, according to surveys by the anti-littering charity Keep Britain Tidy.
The UK plans to cut youth vaping will only work if the law is properly enforced, says Hazel Cheeseman at ASH. “If you don’t have the right level of resources to make sure that we are able to enforce this law, then that will be a problem,” she says.
England and Wales are also pressing ahead with plans to introduce an age-linked ban, making it an offence to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009. The effect would be that those now 14 or younger would never be able to legally buy cigarettes.
Source: New Scientist, 29 January 2024
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** See also: ASH response to government announcement on smoking and vaping ([link removed]) Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said: “Banning disposables when they are so widely used will require strict enforcement to be effective, as illegal vapes are already flooding the market even before a ban. At the turn of the last century illegal tobacco was out of control, just as illegal vapes are now but the number of illegal cigarettes on sale in the UK fell by 80% between 2000 and 2021 after a comprehensive cross government strategy was implemented. It’s excellent news that the government has updated its strategy for tackling illicit tobacco, but we are yet to see the same strategic approach applied to vapes. Throwing money at the problem is not enough, stopping illegal vapes at the Border, inland and at point of sale requires a thought through intelligence-led
strategy.”
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** UK’s vape ban highlights benefit of big tobacco’s run-off strategy
The tobacco industry would like to think that they can build a sustainable future selling vapes and snus (oral smokeless tobacco) from the embers of their traditional cigarette business. But — as the UK’s ban on disposable vapes suggests — the growth potential of alternative nicotine delivery products appears limited.
To be fair, the UK’s new policy will not directly hit traditional tobacco manufacturers such as British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands. It targets disposable vapes, a £1.3bn market that is dominated by colourful and bubble-gum flavoured Chinese imports. This has grown extraordinarily fast, accounting for 31 per cent of all e-cigarettes in 2023, up from just 2 per cent in 2021, according to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).
Tobacco companies, which have focused on non-disposable e-cigarettes, may see the ban as a net positive for their smoke-free businesses. Even with less volume pick-up from their less colourful devices, their market positions stay intact.
They may also hope to reroute demand to other smokeless products such as “modern oral”, the recent incarnation of snus. This is having something of a renaissance. Philip Morris, which acquired Swedish Match and its Zyn nicotine pouches in 2022, expects the category potentially to triple in the US by 2030.
Such hopeful interpretations miss a key point. The UK’s crackdown suggests that regulators are very sensitive about alternative nicotine delivery methods taking off, especially if they start to attract “never smokers”. Pursuing growth in these categories is thus a complex balancing act.
Investors will not necessarily pay up for such prospects for long. Philip Morris leads the smokeless brigade with 35 per cent of revenues from this area, says Panmure Gordon. At 15 times forward earnings it trades at roughly double the valuation multiple of its UK peers. But over the past three years, its shares have trailed behind those of Imperial Brands with few alternative products. It prefers to recycle cash to shareholders instead.
If, given the UK’s example, all regulators conclude that there is no good way to smoke, Imperial’s strategy may be the best suited to a dying industry.
Source: The Financial Times, 31 January 2024
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** Obesity drug boom pushes Novo Nordisk shares to record high
Novo Nordisk shares hit a record high after the Danish company reported soaring sales of its obesity and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, pushing its market value past $500bn and cementing its position as Europe’s most valuable company.
Novo Nordisk shares rose by 4% on Wednesday before settling to trade 1.2% higher, leaving its market value hovering near $500bn (£394bn).
Obesity drug sales jumped by 154% at constant exchange rates to 41.6bn Danish kroner (£4.8bn) last year, fuelled by demand for Wegovy, which brought in £3.6bn. Sales of diabetes drugs such as Ozempic grew by 52%, and obesity and diabetes drug sales totalled nearly £25bn.
The new generation of weight-loss drugs, which also include the US drugmaker Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro, sold as Zepbound, mimic the action of a gut hormone called GLP-1 by suppressing appetite and slowing the movement of food through the digestive system.
As more patients start on the drugs, which they self-inject weekly, Karsten Munk Knudsen, the chief financial officer of Novo Nordisk, said prices for Wegovy and Ozempic would gradually come down to ease pressure on national healthcare systems and insurers.
In the US, Wegovy’s list price for a month’s supply is $1,349 while Zepbound is at $1,060. In the UK, Wegovy’s list price for a high-dose pack with four pre-filled pens is £175.80.
Source: The Guardian, 31 January 2024
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Read Here ([link removed])
** Call You and Yours: How are smoking and vaping affecting you, your family and your friends?
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** BBC radio show You and Yours discusses the new ban on disposable vapes and the plans to create a smokefree generation, joined by Nick Hopkinson, Chairman of ASH, for a discussion of the evidence.
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