Advertisements

Fuisz Tobacco News

Fuisz Announces Formation of Fuisz Tobacco; Company to Commercialize Film- Based Smokeless Tobacco Products

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 PRNewswire — Richard Fuisz and Joseph Fuisz announced the formation of Fuisz Tobacco. Fuisz Tobacco will commercialize film-based smokeless tobacco products in the US and global markets together with leading tobacco companies.

The Fuisz Tobacco smokeless product is a film strip, similar in appearance to a Listerine(R) PocketPak(R) breath strip but thicker. The Fuisz Tobacco Film is spitless and dissolves entirely in the cheek. This means that the product can be discretely consumed in a social setting without residue to remove from the mouth after use — unlike traditional smokeless tobacco products.

Consumer testing demonstrates that the Fuisz Tobacco Film is preferred by smokers — by a dramatic margin — over existing smokeless tobacco products. This is attributed to excellent taste, attractive appearance, and the ability to discretely consume the product. Smokers are traditionally reluctant to switch to smokeless tobacco products because they frequently do not like smokeless tobacco products when they try them. The Fuisz Tobacco Film successfully addresses this issue by offering a product that smokers like.

The current United States smokeless tobacco market is dominated by three leading companies — UST, RJR Tobacco's Conwood and Swedish Match.

Richard and Joseph Fuisz helped to pioneer the field of thin film drug delivery. The Fuisz Tobacco Film uses drug delivery techniques to lower the amount of tobacco needed to provide the user with a satisfying tobacco experience. This means that a Fuisz Tobacco Film contains a fraction of the tobacco contained in a traditional smokeless tobacco product while still providing strong tobacco satisfaction.

Joseph Fuisz, Managing Member, commented: "Smoking bans are literally displacing the smoker on a global basis. The problem is that smokers do not like existing smokeless tobacco products. We have developed a product that smokers like, and a product that uses much less tobacco than existing products."

Richard C. Fuisz, M.D., Founding Member, stated: "Public health studies, including studies published in 2007 in The Lancet, point to the increasing desirability of transitioning smokers to smokeless tobacco products — particularly those products with low levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines. The public health community is tending, globally, to move past a monolithic view of tobacco towards a more nuanced view. In this view, the transition to smokeless offers real gains. I believe that our tobacco film is the product that will help smokers choose to move in the desired direction."

Joseph Fuisz continued: "This effort is not merely an evolution of the work we began in thin film drug delivery. On the contrary, the needs of the product profile demanded by smokers, together with the competitiveness of the global tobacco method led us into an entirely new manufacturing method than is used in the thin film industry. This tobacco film product is supported by significant intellectual property. We believe that it will have far-reaching implications."

Richard Fuisz, M.D., is the most active inventor in thin film drug delivery. Richard and Joseph Fuisz previously founded Kosmos Pharma, a thin film drug delivery company, which was acquired by MonoSol Rx (www.monosolrx.com). Richard Fuisz previously started Fuisz Technologies, a public quick-dissolve tablet company acquired by Biovail, and Medcom, a medical training company acquired by Baxter International. Richard C. Fuisz is a graduate of Georgetown College and Georgetown Medical School, and he serves on the board of regents of Georgetown University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Fuisz).

Joseph Fuisz, Esq., left MonoSol Rx in December 2007 where he served as Senior Vice President for Business Development & Licensing. While at MonoSol Rx, Mr. Fuisz originated the company's thin film transactions, including a transaction that made MonoSol Rx the sole supplier of flavor film to Philip Morris USA in support of their new SNUS product initiative. Other transactions led by Mr. Fuisz for MonoSol Rx included transactions with GSK, Reckitt Benckiser, Prestige Brands and others. Mr. Fuisz is a named inventor on over 40 of MonoSol Rx's thin film patents. Mr. Fuisz has licensed several of the Fuisz family patents to undisclosed parties. He is on the board of Auditude, a digital fingerprinting company funded by Viacom and Greylock. He is trained as a corporate attorney and practiced at Sullivan & Cromwell. He is a graduate of Yale College and the Columbia University Law School.

Claude Bayard has joined Fuisz Tobacco as Head of Operations. Mr. Bayard previously worked as Vice President for Manufacturing and Operations at Nutravail Technologies, formerly known as Fuisz Technologies. Prior to Fuisz Technologies, Mr. Bayard was a Plant Manager for BG Goodrich Chemical Ltd. Mr. Bayard has extensive experience in the development and manufacturing of novel pharmaceutical, vitamin and food products.

Richard Fuisz commented: "We are very fortunate to have a man of Claude's capability and character to be running our operations group. I am delighted to be able to work with Claude again. Claude has successfully managed our scale-up work in Minnesota and New Jersey."

SOURCE Fuisz Tobacco

Send this news item to a friend.

Print This Page

Press Release Network Ads

Google

Submit Your Press Release

Have a press release? Submit it to our press release networks.