Juul can sell updated e-cigarette with age-verification system, FDA says

Vaping company Juul Labs on Friday received federal permission to sell an updated version of its e-cigarette, which includes an optional age-verification system designed to prevent underage use.

The decision from the Food and Drug Administration allows the company to sell a new version of its top-selling vaping device for the first time since it launched more than a decade ago. In recent years, the company has had to lay off hundreds of employees while paying roughly $3 billion to settle government and private lawsuits over teen use of its products.

Juul plans to market the new device under the brand name Juul2, along with updated versions of its tobacco- and menthol-flavored cartridges. In 2019, the company discontinued several flavors, including mango, mint and creme, that drove most of its sales but were favored by teens.

In a statement Friday, Juul CEO K.C. Crosthwaite said the company plans to seek authorization for “a portfolio of flavors — beyond tobacco and menthol — that are targeted to adult nicotine consumers.”

The latest announcement is not an approval or endorsement, and people who do not smoke should not use Juul or any other e-cigarettes, according to regulators. The FDA decision means that smokers who switch completely to Juul can reduce their exposure to deadly carcinogens and other chemicals found in traditional cigarettes.

According to company studies reviewed by the FDA, between 20% to 50% of smokers who used Juul products were able to stop smoking at the end of six weeks. The rates of quitting varied based on which flavors were used.

The FDA says it “considers the risks and benefits to the U.S. population as a whole — including the benefits to adults who currently use tobacco products and switch to a potentially lower-risk product, as well as the risks posed to youth and non-users of tobacco products.”

“To receive marketing authorizations, the FDA must have sufficient evidence that the new products offer greater benefits to population health than risks,” the agency said Friday in a news release announcing the authorization.

The new device also gives users the option to require age verification via an online app before the e-cigarette can be unlocked.

According to Juul Labs, the optional 21-and-up app pairs with the connected device and “provides adult consumers insights into their product use, device location, real-time battery and pod-level information.” The app will also allow consumers to “lock” a paired device “to prevent use by others.”

The FDA has authorized a handful of e-cigarettes to help adult smokers quit or cut back on cigarettes. In May, the FDA OK’d the first fruit-flavored electronic cigarettes intended for adult smokers. The approval represented a major policy shift and came after months of appeals to President Trump from the vaping industry.

Juul is no longer the top-selling e-cigarette brand in the U.S. and trails Vuse, which is sold by tobacco giant Reynolds American. Reynolds also makes Camel and Newport cigarettes.

Teens have shifted away from Juul as part of a wider drop in vaping, according to federal figures. Teens who continue to vape mostly use unauthorized disposable e-cigarettes imported from China, which come in fruit and candy flavors.