Tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) will begin U.S. production of heated tobacco product IQOS in the United States, putting the product back on convenience store shelves by next year. IQOS is sold in the U.S. under license by PMI’s American partner Altria.
Last September, the federal International Trade Commission (ITC) upheld an earlier ruling and ordered imported IQOS products off the U.S. market.
Domestic sales of IQOS ended Nov. 29, 2021. According to Bloomberg, domestically made IQOS products will begin selling some time in the first half of 2023.
The ITC decision was the result of a patent dispute between PMI and British American Tobacco (BAT), the parent company of American company Reynolds American (RAI). The ITC ordered PMI and Altria to stop importing IQOS for sale in the U.S., but did not prevent PMI from producing the product here.
Jim McDonald – Vaping360 – 2022-02-11
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