Nicoventures, the start-up created by British American Tobacco to develop smoke-free products, said it won rights to globally market a nicotine inhalation device.

A worldwide license, which Nicoventures said was its first, was negotiated with device-developer Kind Consumer for a product described as innovative because it will mimic cigarette characteristics while supplying nicotine.
Kind Consumer is a five-year-old company that seeks technological answers to public health problems. Its investors include former Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy and Peter Davis, former head of Prudential and Sainsburys.
“There’s currently a huge gap in the market crying out for a product like this that sits between cigarettes and the very medicalised nicotine-replacement therapies,” Leahy said in a statement from Kind Consumer. The device will offer a safe alternative to smokers and improve public health, he said.
When development of the device is completed, regulatory approval as a medicinal product will be required, the companies said. (pi)