Imperial Tobacco Canada to make quitting smoking easier with Zonnic

Convenience stores in Canada now have a new way to help Canadians cease smoking with the availability of the Zonnic nicotine pouch.

Imperial Tobacco Canada (ITCAN) announced that Health Canada has granted Nicoventures Trading Limited, a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco Canada’s parent company BAT, a licence to sell Zonnic which is made to help adult smokers quit smoking by delivering nicotine to the body. Imperial Tobacco Canada will be the exclusive distributor of Zonnic in Canada.

"This is a first for Canada. No other nicotine pouch has received Health Canada's authorization. Zonnic will give smokers a new option to help them quit smoking," said Frank Silva, president and CEO of ITCAN. "We all agree, smoking is the cause of serious diseases, and we are committed to reducing the health impact of our business. The addition of Zonnic to our product portfolio is the next step in this journey.''

Zonnic is licensed as a Natural Health Product (NHP) and has been authorized for sale by Health Canada for use as a form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). Zonnic contains no tobacco.

As part of its licence application, Nicoventures provided all information required by Health Canada, including a pharmacokinetics study that assessed the bioavailability of nicotine in Zonnic in comparison to other commercially available NRTs.

"Canada has a golden opportunity to achieve its target of reducing smoking rates below 5% by 2035. We just have to look at Sweden to see how it can be done. Sweden is about to become the first smoke free country," says Mr. Silva. ''I am immensely proud to add Zonnic to our product portfolio that hit the shelves this week in convenience stores and later this year in pharmacies. Offering a range of less harmful products to smoking will benefit our adult consumers and society as a whole.''