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A federal advisory committee on Thursday recommended that the Food and Drug Administration reject a bid by Philip Morris International to market a smokeless tobacco stick in the United States as safer than traditional cigarettes. (Kaplan, 1/25)

The penlike device heats Marlboro-branded sticks of tobacco but stops short of burning them. It is already sold in more than 30 countries and Philip Morris aims to make it the first "reduced risk" tobacco product ever sanctioned by the U.S. The votes Thursday by the panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers on the marketing of the iQOS device are nonbinding. The FDA will make a separate decision on whether to allow the product on the market, and — if so — how it could be marketed to consumers. (Perrone, 1/25)

For the user, the IQOS system delivers nicotine like an e-cigarette, but with the taste and buzz of tobacco. A cigarette burns at 600 degrees, but at 350 degrees, the HeatStick tobacco never ignites. The user exhales a largely odorless vapor in which some of the most toxic byproducts of combustion — carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde, mercury and ammonia — are reduced by 69% to 99.9% compared to the average cigarette on the market. (Healy, 1/25)

There was some support for the company's claims that "switching completely to iQOS presents less risk of harm than continuing to smoke cigarettes." But the measure failed on a vote of 4-5 against. (Stein, 1/25)

“I don’t see a whole host of studies,” Michael Weitzman, an advisory panel member and professor in the Department of Pediatrics at New York University School of Medicine, said before the vote. “I feel very uncomfortable making the judgment call. What we’ve seen -- it suggests, it implies. I could not say under oath that what we’ve seen demonstrates.” (Edney, 1/25)

The cigarette has triggered debate and worries among health experts about whether IQOS will help or hurt public health in this country. Health advocates worry that such products could be used to attract new smokers and lure people away from quitting altogether. IQOS represents a significant investment by Philip Morris as smoking in the United States drops to all-time lows. The company spent $3 billion to develop IQOS and other smokeless tobacco products and has begun selling them in other countries. The company’s stock was down 2.8 percent Thursday afternoon after tumbling by as much as 6 percent during the advisory panel’s meeting. (Wan, 1/25)

The advisory panel members said unanimously they didn’t believe Philip Morris had shown consumers would understand the risks of using IQOS from its labeling and advertising. A majority of panelists also said the likelihood was low U.S. smokers would switch completely to IQOS. A Philip Morris spokesman said, “We are confident in our ability to address the valid questions raised by the Committee with the FDA as the review process for our application continues.” (McKay and Chaudhuri, 1/25)

Seventeen public health schools in the U.S. and Canada pledged Thursday to refuse research money from a new anti-smoking group funded by the tobacco industry. The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World was created in September with nearly $1 billion from the Philip Morris tobacco company, saying it aims to end smoking worldwide and support research to meet that goal. But deans of public health schools at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and other universities said the group is too closely tied to an industry that sells deadly products to millions. (Binkley, 1/25)