Outgoing FDA chief: Altria bait-and-switched me with $12.8 billion Juul investment

[Eugene]

Source: Yahoo! Finance

Outgoing FDA chief: Altria bait-and-switched me with $12.8 billion Juul investment

Aarthi Swaminathan
Finance Writer
Yahoo Finance March 20, 2019

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on Tuesday that tobacco giant Altria went back on its promise to clamp down on vape pods with its $12.8 billion investment in e-cigarette decacorn Juul Labs.

Speaking at the Brookings Institution, Gottlieb called the phenomenon of teen vaping an “epidemic” and revealed that he had a “difficult meeting” with Altria (MO) last week after he suggested the company went back on earlier promises to withdraw pod-based products from the market.

“It was a difficult meeting. … It concerned me that a company that affirmed what we believe, which is that the pod-based flavored products are driving youth use, went so far as to take the product off the market and publicly make that statement … then made a substantial investment that also guaranteed that they’re going to expand the market share of the leading pod-based flavored products that’d been used by children,” Gottlieb fumed.

“There seems to be a disconnect,” he added.

Gottlieb resigned on March 5. His last day is expected to be April 5.

-snip-

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fda-vape-tobacco-juul-180044361.html

[Karadeniz]

1. You mean there was someone in this administration who was working towards his

department's mission statement? Unbelievable!