CLARENCE, N.Y. & LONDON-- With low-nicotine-cigarette producer 22nd Century Group Inc. and British American Tobacco PLC (BAT) ending their current partnership, discussion over the viability of a low-nicotine future has picked up.
Last month, London-based BAT ended a four-year partnership that now allows Clarence, N.Y.-based 22nd Century Group to be a free agent, all at a time when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is placing a new emphasis on low-nicotine tobacco products.
“The company is free to engage in licensing agreements and strategic partnerships with any and all tobacco companies—with no restrictions, limits or caps on licensing royalties,” 22nd Century officials told the Winston-Salem Journal in a statement.
The decision is just one of many ongoing developments in the low-nicotine story, all of which led Bonnie Herzog, managing director of consumer equity research for Wells Fargo Securities LLC, New York, to make several predictions about the new category …