By Timothy S. Donahue
Top Takeaways:
- Patent dropped: PMI has relinquished a European patent covering nicotine pouch compositions designed to provide fast and sustained nicotine release.
- BAT challenge: The move came after British American Tobacco challenged the patent.
- Pouch stakes: The dispute involves intellectual property in a category increasingly important to both tobacco companies.
Philip Morris has walked away from a nicotine pouch patent rather than continue fighting BAT over it.
Philip Morris Products has relinquished a European patent for nicotine pouch compositions that provide relatively rapid initial nicotine release while maintaining nicotine stability, according media reports and court records.
The move follows a challenge by rival British American Tobacco to European Patent EP 4 000 424. The patent, titled “Nicotine pouch composition,” was filed in November 2020 and granted by the European Patent Office in November 2022.
It covers oral nicotine pouch compositions containing non-tobacco particulate material, a nicotine source, specified moisture levels, pH-adjusting agents, and certain divalent inorganic salts.
The patent describes one of its objectives as balancing two potentially competing characteristics: maintaining nicotine stability within the pouch while allowing it to be released relatively quickly during use.
According to the patent, its release profile can include a “fast-release period” during the first two minutes, followed by a sustained-release period.
BAT subsequently challenged the patent. Philip Morris has now relinquished the patent in that proceeding rather than continue defending it.
The development adds another chapter to a long-running intellectual property rivalry between two of the world’s largest tobacco companies, though this dispute involves oral nicotine rather than the heated tobacco and vapor technologies that were central to their previous litigation.
PMI and BAT reached a global patent settlement in February 2024, resolving their existing infringement litigation involving heated tobacco and vapor products. The agreement ended ongoing cases and prevented future claims involving the companies’ then-current heated tobacco and vapor products, while allowing both companies to continue developing product iterations.
The nicotine pouch patent is separate from the disputes. The challenge arises as oral nicotine becomes increasingly important to both companies.
PMI owns Swedish Match and its ZYN nicotine pouch business. ZYN has become a major part of PMI’s smoke-free portfolio and, in June, became the first nicotine pouch authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to carry a modified-risk claim.
BAT competes in the category primarily through its Velo portfolio and said this week that it expects nicotine pouch industry revenue to triple from 2025 to 2030.
The company expects pouches to become its primary growth driver as it targets mid-teens annual revenue growth for its New Categories business through the end of the decade. That makes the intellectual property surrounding pouch formulations and nicotine delivery increasingly valuable as the two companies compete in a rapidly expanding market.
The relinquished PMI patent was directed specifically to the composition inside the pouch.
It describes formulations designed to deliver both rapid initial nicotine release and sustained release during use. The patent states that the combination can address the challenge of achieving high nicotine stability without binding nicotine so effectively that its release becomes too slow.
Philip Morris’ decision to relinquish the European patent ends its protection under EP 4 000 424 rather than resulting in a final decision upholding or invalidating the challenged claims.
