Philip Morris International will launch the production of IQOS e-cigarettes in the United States to circumvent the import ban

Blue Hole New Consumption reported that on February 12, according to foreign telecommunications reports, tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) will begin to produce heated tobacco product IQOS in the United States, and will re-list the product in convenience stores next year. IQOS is sold in the United States under license from PMI's U.S. partner, Altria.

Last September, the Federal International Trade Commission (ITC) upheld previous rulings and ordered the withdrawal of imported IQOS products from the U.S. market. Domestic sales of IQOS ended November 29, 2021.

According to Bloomberg, U.S. domestic IQOS products will go on sale sometime in the first half of 2023.

The ITC's decision is the result of a patent dispute between PMI and British American Tobacco (BAT), the parent company of Renault USA (RAI). The ITC ordered PMI and Altria to stop importing IQOS for sale in the United States, but did not prevent PMI from producing the product in the United States.

IQOS was authorized by the FDA for U.S. sale through the agency's Premarket Tobacco Application (PMTA) route in 2019 and was granted Modified Risk (MRTP) status in 2020. PMI could have changed the design of the product to circumvent the ITC import ban, but the company would have been forced to resubmit the updated device to obtain PMTA and MRTP authorizations — a lengthy process.

Unlike e-cigarette products, which are based on e-cigarette oil, heated tobacco products (HTP) like IQOS heat actual tobacco (in small cigarette-like refills called HeatSticks) to a temperature sufficient to evaporate nicotine and some flavor compounds, but not the focus of combustion.