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** 30 November 2021
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** UK
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** Upstart e-cigarette makers push for NHS licenses ahead of Big Tobacco (#1)
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** New NICE guidance published on NHS stop smoking support and harm reduction (#3)
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** 'Constant bombardment' of alcohol marketing needs tightening - MPs and experts say (#2)
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** Wes Streeting appointed shadow health secretary in shadow cabinet reshuffle (#4)
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** UK
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** Upstart e-cigarette makers are hoping to get their products prescribed on the NHS before Big Tobacco decides whether to commit to the regulatory process to obtain a license. The upstart firms include NJOY, which according to Nielsen data has a 3.9% share of the US market, DSL Group, owner of Nottingham-based Multivape, Irish company Yatzz, and Leeds-based Superdragon. Superdragon director David Xiu said the potential market is “much more than a multimillion-pound” opportunity and a source close to NJOY said it is “far in the development of its application”.
Euromonitor data shows that the UK e-cigarette market is worth more than £2bn. However, whilst ECigIntelligence data shows that large tobacco firms own or hold stakes in four of the five largest e-cigarette brands in the UK, none have launched an application for their medicinal use. Imperial Brands, UK owner of Blu vapes, says it is “carefully studying the new guidance”. Japan Tobacco International says it had “not made any decisions regarding licences” for its Logic vapes. Juul, backed by US firm Altria, says it has “nothing to announce at this time”. British American Tobacco, owner of Vuse, declined to comment. BAT-backed nicotine inhaler Voke had previously received UK medical approval in 2014 but was scrapped after financing and manufacturing difficulties.
Erik Bloomquist, a tobacco sector analyst, said that Big Tobacco may opt not to pursue a license as the process can take several years, by which time products can be out of date. However, Chris Allen, chief scientific officer at consultancy Broughton, noted that clinical trials, marketing, and compliance costs, which could total as much as £3-5m per product, would also deter smaller firms, meaning that “only a handful of companies would look at this path”. Deborah Arnott, director of ASH, said that medicinal licensing could nevertheless encourage a shift from tobacco to less harmful vapes. saying that “30% of smokers have never tried e-cigarettes” and a third think vaping is as or more harmful than smoking.
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Source: Financial Times, 30 November 2021
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** NICE has today (30 November) published its new guidance covering NHS stop smoking support and harm reduction. The guidelines update much previous NICE guidelines on tobacco and smoking cessation. The guidance is wide-ranging from recommendations on mass media campaigns and the sale of illicit tobacco to stop smoking in primary care and community settings.
Two areas of note are a new recommendation on providing financial incentives to support pregnant women to stop smoking, following a number of studies showing this can improve outcomes. There is also an updated recommendation on e-cigarettes to support quitting. The guidance recommends that healthcare practitioners offer information on the use of e-cigarettes as a quitting aid. Specifically, they should inform patients that using e-cigarettes is likely to be substantially less harmful than smoking, though unlikely to be risk free, and should explain the importance of using them long enough and getting enough nicotine to prevent withdrawal from smoking.
Source: NICE, 30 November 2021
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Read Guidance ([link removed])
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** A new Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA) report has called for tighter restrictions on alcohol advertising to limit what MPs and health experts have called the “constant bombardment” of advertising at celebrations such as Christmas and at sports events. The report, entitled No escape: How alcohol marketing preys on children and vulnerable people, found alcohol marketing was reaching and having harmful effects on people who are addicted to alcohol or in recovery and children.
The report found that the marketing of alcohol at special events made it difficult for those who were addicted or in recovery to fully participate in everyday life and could trigger relapse. It found that children were regularly exposed to alcohol marketing and had high levels of brand awareness. A 2019 survey of more than 2,500 young people funded by Cancer Research UK found that four in five 11 to 17-year-olds had seen alcohol marketing in the past month and some 42% had seen alcohol adverts on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram.
The AHA, which represents more than 60 non-governmental organisations, is calling on the Government to take urgent action to protect those with addiction, in recovery, and children from overexposure to alcohol marketing. The Health and Care Bill plans to introduce advertising restrictions such as a 9pm watershed for “less healthy food or drink” advertising on TV and a ban on online campaigns at the end of 2022 but does not include provisions on alcohol in its plans.
AHA chairman Professor Sir Ian Gilmore said: “The constant bombardment of alcohol marketing is a significant contributor to alcohol harm in the UK. The glamorisation of a harmful product creates a culture where alcohol is seen as an essential part of everyday life. The Government must now introduce comprehensive marketing restrictions in both real-world and digital spaces to ensure that vulnerable adults and children are protected from alcohol advertising.” Malcolm Clark, cancer prevention policy manager at Cancer Research UK, added: “It’s time for governments across the UK to introduce and enforce restrictions on pervasive alcohol advertising across multiple media platforms, including sponsorships and those targeting young people. To close the inequality gap, significant new public health funding, including for alcohol treatment services, is urgently needed.”
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Source: Wales Online, 30 November 2021
See also: Alcohol Health Alliance - No escape: How alcohol marketing preys on children and vulnerable people ([link removed])
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Wes Streeting has been appointed shadow health secretary in a Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle just four months after returning to the Labour frontbench after being declared cancer-free by doctors. Streeting said he was “delighted” with the new role in the “year the NHS saved my life”.
Streeting replaces Jon Ashworth, who had previously been the longest serving shadow health secretary having begun the role in 2016. Streeting, MP for Ilford North, announced in May that he would step back from politics whilst he underwent treatment for kidney cancer. That announcement came less than a week after he had been promoted to the shadow cabinet by Labour leader Keir Starmer as shadow secretary of state for child poverty. Streeting grew up on a council estate in Tower Hamlets and was the first person in his family to go to university.
Meanwhile, Lisa Nandy has gone from shadow foreign secretary to shadow levelling up secretary. Ordinarily deemed a demotion, Nandy’s levelling-up brief is seen by both Boris Johnson and Starmer as key to the next election. Nandy defended the surprise reshuffle, saying that “the leader makes the decisions, the gaffer picks the team, that’s how it goes, that’s how it has always gone.”
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Source: The Independent, 29 November 2021
See also: The Guardian - Lisa Nandy backs Keir Starmer over Labour reshuffle rift ([link removed])
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