Visit Us
Contact Us
Address: Quartier Adido-Adin, 08 BP 81586 Lomé-Togo
Phone: (00228) 22 25 15 83
Email: info@atca-africa.org
Fax : (00228) 22 25 15 83
Company gives update on Altria’s products at Outlook Leadership Community.
CHICAGO — To say 2020 has been uncertain is an understatement, Danielle Lindsay, senior manager of sales analytics at Altria Group Distribution Co. (AGDC) said.
“As COVID-19 resurges, there’s growing concern for the long-term economic impact to the United States with implications for the adult tobacco consumer,” Lindsay said.
Lindsay, along with AGDC’s Senior Manager of Sales Analytics Michael Muskievicz, detailed the challenges adult tobacco consumers are facing amid the pandemic and gave an update on the Richmond, Va.-based company’s tobacco products as part of Winsight Media and CSP’sOutlook Leadership Community.
An increasing number of Americans, including many adult tobacco consumers, faced economic hardships by the end of the third quarter in 2020, Lindsay said; however, the number of those consumers’ trips to the store rebounded in the third quarter and tobacco expenditures per trip remained elevated compared to a year ago, she said.
Adult tobacco consumers were already hurting financially pre-COVID. Except for dippers, tobacco consumers earned less and had a higher percentage of individuals with less than $25,000 annual income compared to the total U.S. population of adults over age 21, Lindsay said.
“This disadvantage has only been exacerbated as the most common job industry for adult tobacco consumers—leisure and hospitality—experienced the greatest job loss post COVID-19,” she said.
A survey from May showed that 41% of adult tobacco consumers ages 21 and older said they were not financially secure. Forty-six percent said they were somewhat secure and 13% said they were financially secure, Lindsay said.
Those adult smokers have also changed their tobacco purchasing patterns amid the pandemic. In a May survey, tobacco users 21 and up indicated they were buying more at a time and shopping less often, she said. More than a quarter also changed where they buy tobacco products.
Cigarette multi-packs and carton are also up compared to pre-pandemic levels, Lindsay said.
Overall, cigarettes are doing better than previously expected.
Muskievicz said Altria revised its 2020 full-year domestic cigarette industry adjusted volume decline rate to a range of 2% to 3.5% from its previous range of 4% to 6%. The Marlboro brand in particular has seen share stability in a volatile time, he said.
“Earlier this year, we noted that there were a number of adult smokers that were age 50-plus who had moved back from the e-vapor category into cigarettes,” Muskievicz said. “This benefited volumes for Marlboro as well as the cigarette category.”
Also benefiting Marlboro were investments made in loyalty programs and resealable packaging, he said.
Nicotine pouches have also continued to grow month over month in their share of the total U.S retail market, including convenience stores. Altria’s nicotine pouch brand, On, is was in more than 40,000 U.S. retail stores in second-quarter 2020, Muskievicz said, compared to 28,000 in the first quarter.
“We attribute On’s early success to the variety of nicotine strengths and flavors in its portfolio,” he said. “Additionally, On has also attracted female tobacco consumers due to its spitless, white and compact format.”
ISLAMABAD: Society for Protection of Rights of the Child (SPARC) held a press conference to “Demand Imposition of Health Levy bill as passed by Cabinet in 2019” at National Press Club Islamabad on Tuesday.
Health advocates demanded an investigation to determine why the decision of the federal cabinet to impose a health levy on tobacco could not be implemented and also demanded Prime Minister Imran Khan to take notice.
As a result of the lack of implementation of the bill the country loss Rs. 55 billion last year. Health levy on cigarettes and sugary drinks would have generated Rs. 55 billion in revenue which could be used for healthcare infrastructure.
Mr. Sajjad Ahmed Cheema, Executive Director, SPARC informed media that in June 2019, the federal cabinet decided to implement a healthy levy on tobacco products. The said move would have increased the price of tobacco products and make them unaffordable for low-income groups and children. However, this bill has been going back and forth between FBR, Healthy Ministry and Finance Ministry.
The FBR has mentioned in written that it doesn’t have any issues with implementation of healthy levy. Hence the delay in this matter is a disappointing shock because it shows that public health is not a priority matter for our government.
Ch. Sana Ullah Ghuman, Secretary General, Pakistan National Heart Association reminded the government that Pakistan is a signatory of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)/ Prime Minister cannot meet representatives of Tobacco Industry as it is a violation of 5.3 of FCTC. Children are the most effected group from tobacco consumption. Therefore, we hope that he’ll take immediate notice of delay in implementation of healthy levy and take this necessary step to safeguard the health of millions of children in Pakistan.
Col (retired) Azhar Saleem, CEO, Human Development Foundation (HDF) said that due to the delay in implementation of health levy, the national exchequer suffered a loss of Rs. 55 billion. The COVI-19 pandemic made everyone realize once again that we our existing resources are inadequate to counter any healthy emergency. This amount could have been utilized for pandemic control and guarantee better health and living standard for our citizens.
"If you wanted to be cynical about it, you could. But we tend to think of it as like at the end of the day, the tobacco plant in and of itself is still just a plant.
The tobacco plant is being used by some drug companies as a key ingredient in the development of a coronavirus vaccine.
Throughout history, indigenous people of North America and Alaska have revered the tobacco plant for its use in medicinal practices in addition to using it in spiritual ceremonies. In recent years however, the plant has been given a bad name due to the use of one tobacco strain called Nicotiana tabacum for producing cigarettes.
This particular strain, one of at least seventy known tobacco strains, is responsible for over 480,000 deaths a year, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Now, two North American biotech companies developing coronavirus vaccine might bring the plant into a slightly more positive limelight as they use a strain called Nicotiana benthamiana as bio-factories to produce a key protein from the coronavirus that can be used in a vaccine, according to an NPR report.
The two companies are Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP) and Medicago, which is based out of Canada.
"There's obvious irony there," said James Figlar, executive vice president for research and development for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, which owns KBP.
"If you wanted to be cynical about it, you could," Figlar said. "But we tend to think of it as like at the end of the day, the tobacco plant in and of itself is still just a plant."
Vaccines work by imitating an infection, convincing the immune system that it has been exposed to a pathogen, which in turn causes the immune system to produce T-lymphoctes and antibodies, according to the CDC.
There are multiple ways of doing that, one of which is to introduce something to the immune system that looks like a virus, but isn't infectious. This approach is what Kentucky Bioprocessing is using.
THE PROCESS begins by harvesting 25-day-old plants grown in a greenhouse. Workers then infect the plant by dipping it in a solution which contains microorganisms called agrobacteria. The bacteria have been modified to contain instructions for making a protein from the coronavirus which the tobacco plants will take up, according to NPR.
Seven days after the plant has been infected in the dipping process, it goes through an extraction and purification process.
"At the end of the cycle, we have 99.9% pure protein," KBP president Hugh Haydon told NPR.
A separate set of plants produces a tiny particle for packaging the viral protein. Both components, which are manufactured and packaged separately, are then chemically attached.
The end product is what can be injected into humans as a vaccine, and is what is expected to prompt an immune response that in theory should protect someone from dying from the coronavirus.
"To all intents and purposes, it looks like a virus," says Bruce Clark, CEO of Medicago.
"When it presents to the body, it looks and generates a response like a virus, but it has no genetic material inside," so it can't actually infect someone, said Clark.
Medicago has already begun testing its vaccine candidate in humans. The company's executive said in early October that the phase 1 study results for its potential vaccine are expected by the middle of the month.
KBP said that one of the benefits to the vaccine is that it can be stored at room temperature, unlike conventional vaccines which often require refrigeration, giving it a significant advantage over other vaccines.
KBP is the unit developing the vaccine for British American Tobacco BATS.L, the maker of Dunhill and Lucky Strike cigarettes. The company announced its attempt at making a vaccine in April, stating that it is working with the US Food and Drug Administration on the next steps and was also engaged with UK health authorities to bring its vaccine to clinical studies as soon as possible.
“We believe we have made a significant breakthrough with our tobacco plant technology platform and stand ready to work with governments and all stakeholders to help win the war against COVID-19,” David O’Reilly, director of Scientific Research at BAT, said in a statement.
KBP made headlines a few years ago when it said it had created an effective treatment against Ebola called ZMapp, in conjunction with California-based Mapp Biopharmaceuticals.
Historically tobacco plants are responsible for their share of illness and death. But two companies are using the plants to produce proteins for a vaccine. One candidate vaccine is in clinical trials.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Companies trying to make a vaccine for COVID-19 are trying a variety of approaches. Most involve laboratories capable of sophisticated biotechnology, but NPR's Joe Palca has this report about one approach for creating a vaccine which starts in a greenhouse.
JOE PALCA, BYLINE: Vaccines essentially work by tricking the immune system into thinking it's seen a virus so it can fight it off if the real McCoy ever shows up. Bruce Clark is CEO of Medicago, a Canadian biotech company. He says his company put something called a viruslike particle into its COVID-19 vaccine.
BRUCE CLARK: To all intents and purposes, it looks like a virus. So when it presents to the body, it looks and generates a response like a virus, but it has no genetic material inside, so it's not infectious.
PALCA: But the curious thing about this genetic material-free viral imposter is that it's made in a plant - to be specific Nicotiana benthamiana, a close relative of the tobacco plant, a plant they grow in a greenhouse. And Medicago isn't the only company trying to make a vaccine from plants. Hugh Haydon is president of Kentucky Bioprocessing. He says, to make their vaccine, they start with seeds and grow the tobacco plants in the greenhouse for approximately 25 days.
HUGH HAYDON: And on that prescribed date, we take the plant and we dip it into an agrobacterium.
PALCA: Agrobacteria are microorganisms that infect plants, and in this case, they've been modified to contain instructions for making a protein from the coronavirus. The plants take up those instructions.
HAYDON: On the seventh day, we harvest the plant, go through an extraction and purification process, and at the end of the cycle, we have 99.9% pure protein.
PALCA: Haydon says a separate set of plants produces a tiny particle for packaging the viral protein.
HAYDON: Once each of those components has been manufactured and purified separately, we chemically attach them to each other.
PALCA: Haydon says the result is something that can be injected into a human as a vaccine and will prompt an immune response that should, in theory, protect someone from dying from COVID-19. The irony that tobacco, a plant that has caused so much illness and death, might be used to save lives in a pandemic isn't lost on Jim Figlar. He's executive vice president for research and development for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, the company that owns Kentucky Bioprocessing.
JIM FIGLAR: Yes, there's obvious irony there, Joe. If you wanted to be cynical about it, you can think cynically about it. But we tend to think of it as - look; at the end of the day, the tobacco plant in and of itself is still just a plant.
PALCA: Kentucky Bioprocessing's COVID-19 vaccine won't be ready for initial testing in humans for several weeks yet. Company president Haydon knows there are many other vaccines further ahead in development, but he says COVID-19 won't be the last pandemic.
HAYDON: There are going to be other public health challenges, and the more that we can learn as a company, the better prepared we are for what comes next.
PALCA: Plant biologist Kathleen Hefferon agrees plants could play an important role in the future of medicine.
KATHLEEN HEFFERON: There's lots of examples of plant-made versions of therapeutic proteins, and so this is just another place where I think plants can make their mark.
Japan Tobacco International (Philippines) Inc. (JTI) is studying the possibility of increasing its procurement of locally produced tobacco from the current 4.6 million kilograms (kg) it has programmed to buy in 2021 to support local growers reeling from the economic impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement issued on Monday.
In a letter jointly addressed to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Agriculture Secretary William Dar, JTI said its planned purchase of 4.6 million kg of local tobacco leaf for next year represents an increase of 1 million kg from what it brought from farmers this year.
Its 2021 programmed purchases of local tobacco leaf make up a quarter of its estimated total leaf requirement for next year, JTI general manager John Freda said in his letter.
This volume is also well beyond the requirement provided under Republic Act 10351, which requires manufacturers or sellers of tobacco products to procure at least 15 percent of their tobacco leaf raw material requirements from locally grown sources.
JTI’s plan was in response to the joint request of Dominguez and Dar for the cigarette manufacturer to help support local growers and raise revenues for tobacco-producing provinces affected by the pandemic-induced economic shock by hiking its purchases of locally produced tobacco leaf.
In their letter, Dominguez and Dar said the strict quarantines imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 had constrained the marketing flow of food and other agricultural goods, including tobacco, which is among the most affected crops as it is a non-food commodity.
Dominguez and Dar said a study has shown that “only 30 percent of the total local tobacco production are bought from the farmers while the rest are imported” by cigarette companies.
“Your kind assistance will translate into realized income to farmers, which assures food on their table and revenues for local government units,” they said in their letter addressed to JTI.
In response, JTI said its local team is coordinating with the company’s global leaf supply chain to “explore the possibility of further increasing our local leaf tobacco purchases next year and in the coming years.”
Moreover, Freda said that even before the receipt of the letter from the two Cabinet secretaries, JTI has also been coordinating with the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) on the same concern.
“The NTA initiated a series of meetings on the subject in anticipation of the next harvest and trading season which is expected to begin sometime in March 2021, with the goal of ensuring that all harvest next year will be procured,” Freda said in his letter to the two Cabinet officials.
Address: Quartier Adido-Adin, 08 BP 81586 Lomé-Togo
Phone: (00228) 22 25 15 83
Email: info@atca-africa.org
Fax : (00228) 22 25 15 83