Researchers receive $3.9 million grant to evaluate effects of e-cigarette flavors on smoking behaviors

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2 years ago

July 12, 2023

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Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM Jul 12 2023

A new $3.9 million grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow researchers with the Center for Tobacco Research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center to evaluate effects of e-cigarette flavors on the smoking behaviors of current adult smokers.

The study, co-led by Theodore Wagener, PhD, director of Ohio State's Center for Tobacco Research, and Tracy Smith, PhD, of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Hollings Cancer Center, will be the first to provide definitive information about the impact of non-tobacco e-cigarette flavors for helping adult smokers stop smoking.

Wagener says this study will provide scientific data that are urgently needed to inform the FDA's regulation of flavor use in e-cigarettes.

Youth advocates have strenuously objected to flavored e-cigarettes, arguing that, with flavors like cinnamon bun, cotton candy, bubble gum, mango, strawberry or chocolate, e-cigarettes are enticing young people to take up an addictive and harmful habit. Those flavors might also be more appealing to adults who smoke cigarettes and have been unable to quit. The FDA is currently making regulatory decisions about e-cigarette flavors with incomplete scientific data. Existing data show that smokers also prefer flavored e-cigarettes, and while there are a few survey studies suggesting that flavored e-cigarettes may be more helpful for switching to vaping, these studies are not rigorous enough for the FDA to base its regulatory decisions on. Our study will be the first to provide the FDA with definitive information as to the benefit, if any, of e-cigarette flavors to adult smokers."

Theodore Wagener, PhD, Director of Ohio State's Center for Tobacco Research

While the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine have concluded that e-cigarettes are likely to be far less harmful than combustible cigarettes, Wagener notes that more than 1 million e-cigarette products have been banned since 2020, mostly due to the significant rise in youth vaping, often with flavored e-cigarettes.

Switching to e-cigarettes, while not a completely healthy choice, is thought to be better than continuing to smoke, a concept that public health scientists refer to as "harm reduction." Related StoriesTowards Zika preparedness: immunogenicity insights from vaccine researchUnlocking the brain-lung dialogue key to future treatments for critical care patientsAre flavored e-cigarette bans effective?

Wagener says "the FDA must decide how to balance its goals of protecting young people and offering harm-reduction options to adults. This new trial will generate critical data to help make more informed public health decisions that have a lasting impact.". New study evaluates how much flavoring impacts smoking behavior

This national, randomized, controlled trial will recruit up to 1,500 cigarette users from the across the United States.

Researchers will measure e-cigarette flavor impact on product uptake and appeal, cigarette craving, symptoms, dependence and smoking behavior, including sustained and complete switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes. They will also utilize combination nicotine replacement therapy (NRT, patch and lozenge) as an FDA-approved comparator to determine the potential increased benefit (or not) of e-cigarettes versus nicotine replacement therapies on smoking. Smokers will be randomized to one of three groups: preferred flavor e-cigarette, tobacco flavor e-cigarette or combination nicotine replacement therapy.

Study participants will receive products at no cost for 14 weeks. Participants in the preferred flavor group will be able to change flavors throughout that time. Changes in smoking will be biochemically confirmed via remote exhaled carbon monoxide readings at 12 weeks and 26 weeks after the product switch date.

"If our study demonstrates no significant improvements in switching with flavored e-cigarette use, then the continued sale of these products is likely indefensible; however, if improvements are significant, these findings will provide a critical counterweight to the current FDA regulations and will aid future decision making," Wagener said. Source:

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Entertainment

Netflix takeover of Warner Bros ‘could be a problem’, Donald Trump says

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2 hours ago

December 8, 2025

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Netflix takeover of Warner Bros 'could be a problem', Donald Trump says

Donald Trump has said he will be “involved” in the decision on whether Netflix should be allowed to buy Warner Bros, as the $72bn (£54bn) deal attracts a media industry backlash.

The US president acknowledged in remarks to reporters there “could be a problem”, acknowledging concerns over the streaming giant’s market dominance.

Crucially, he did not say where he stood on the issue.

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It was revealed on Friday that Netflix, already the world’s biggest streaming service by market share, had agreed to buy Warner Bros Discovery’s TV, film studios and HBO Max streaming division.

The deal aims to complete late next year after the Discovery element of the business, mainly legacy TV channels showing cartoons, news and sport, has been spun off.

But the deal has attracted cross-party criticism on competition grounds, and there is also opposition in Hollywood.

The Writers Guild of America said: “The world’s largest streaming company swallowing one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent.

“The outcome would eliminate jobs, push down wages, worsen conditions for all entertainment workers, raise prices for consumers, and reduce the volume and diversity of content for all viewers.”

Republican Senator, Roger Marshall, said in a statement: “Netflix’s attempt to buy Warner Bros would be the largest media takeover in history – and it raises serious red flags for consumers, creators, movie theaters, and local businesses alike.

“One company should not have full vertical control of the content and the distribution pipeline that delivers it. And combining two of the largest streaming platforms is a textbook horizontal Antitrust problem.

“Prices, choice, and creative freedom are at stake. Regulators need to take a hard look at this deal, and realize how harmful it would be for consumers and Western society.”

Paramount Skydance and Comcast, the parent company of Sky News, were two other bidders in the auction process that preceded the announcement.

The Reuters news agency, citing information from sources, said their bids were rejected in favour of Netflix for different reasons.

Paramount’s was seen as having funding concerns, they said, while Comcast’s was deemed not to offer so many earlier benefits.

Paramount is run by David Ellison, the son of the Oracle tech billionaire Larry Ellison, who is a close ally of Mr Trump.

The president said of the Netflix deal’s path to regulatory clearance: “I’ll be involved in that decision”.

On the likely opposition to the deal. he added: “That’s going to be for some economists to tell. But it is a big market share. There’s no question it could be a problem.”

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