The U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is reportedly planning to instruct Juul Labs Inc. to stop supplying its e-cigarettes in the country. Shares of Altira, which owns a 35% stake in Juul Labs, fell to 8.5% after the latest development.

For those unaware, Altria Group Inc. had invested USD 12.8 billion in Juul Labs back in 2018, out of which a small amount of USD 1.6 million was spent recently to keep up with vaping industry trends.

Despite the popularity of its nicotine products among teens, the e-cigarette manufacturer has come under closer investigation from authorities, legislators, and state attorneys general. Moreover, in late 2019, the firm had to stop selling some of its flavored products in the U. S. due to bowing pressure.

According to sources, a whistleblower from Juul Labs’ is expected to co-operate with legal issues and continue to stay in the market irrespective of the time taken till the ban is uplifted.

However, the impending decision comes almost two years after e-cigarettes manufacturer requested permission to continue offering e-cigarettes for sale in the U.S. Thus, a crackdown on vaping had also disrupted the rapid expansion of the market previously.

As per sources, many companies think that they made the error of investing in Juul, for paying the top price for a firm that was already blatantly at odds with the law. The FDA evaluated the applications based on whether e-cigarettes are successful in helping smokers quit, or somehow if, it proves advantageous to smokers outweigh the risks to new users, especially teens, in terms of their health.

However, Juul’s competitor British American Tobacco plc received the green signal from FDA for its tobacco-flavored pods as well as Vuse Solo e-cigarettes, making it the first company with vapor products to get approval from the health regulator.

Source Credit:

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/world/juul-e-cigarettes-to-be-ordered-off-us-shelves-8726321.html