Intellicig raises $3.1m funding for medical e-cigarette

[rolygate]

CN Creative (or Intellicig as we know them), a healthcare company providing solutions to reduce smoking and smoking-related illnesses, has raised a Series A financing round led by Advent Life Sciences. The financing raised 2 million pounds (US $3.1 million).

CNC intends to use the investment to continue and finalise development of its Nicadex™ electronic inhaler nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) product for use as part of medically supervised smoking cessation programmes.

They intend to file for UK MHRA approval of the Nicadex™ Inhaler Nicotine Replacement Therapy in 2012 with regulatory filings in the US and globally thereafter.

About two years ago, I remember when the estimated cost of licensing an e-cig for medical use was reckoned by those in the know to be less than £200k. Now we know it's a fair amount more.

peHUB » CN Creative Raises Series A
CN Creative Raises Series A Funding to Develop First Medically Approved Electronic Inhaler... -- MANCHESTER,.England, Jan. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

CN Creative was established in 2008 by David Newns and Chris Lord.

It sells Intellicig in 26 countries and offers other services including QuitDirect, which provides smoking cessation mentoring.

The firm employs 40 staff across its headquarters and research facility in Manchester and sales and warehouse operations in Accrington.

Revenues in the 12 months to last September were £1.75m. Mr Newns said he expects the figure to rise to £2.6m this year. He said staff numbers are on track to reach 100 within three years.

 

[steve321]

interesting article, shame companies like intellicig sell complete crap though

 

[DC2]

I keep wondering whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

 

[Traver]

I keep wondering whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

In my opinion for whatever it is worth anything that gives us good publicity or increases the number of vapors is a good thing. The more of us there are the harder it will be to regulate e cigs out of existence.

 

[DC2]

The only downside I can see is that it might give more fuel to the fighting against "unregulated" electronic cigarettes.
On the other hand, it might also have the opposite effect.
:shrug:

 

[eyebrook]

interesting article, shame companies like intellicig sell complete crap though
Got to say the wrong response, they have their place in the market for people starting out

 

[azzaman]

This kind of thing is great for the future of e cigarettes. This will bring their status to NRT like gum and patches. The down side of this is probably:

> Governments will ban the importation of or increase the import tax of "other" e cigarettes
> Clinical trials and registration of products is expensive, which will increase the price of the products

The good side:

> E cigs will continue to grow, and the market will become more competitive
> We will be completely aware of any side effects, health complications and ingredients
> E cigs may once again be allowed to be used anywhere and everywhere

Thx for the post rolygate.

 

[wfx]

The only downside I can see is that it might give more fuel to the fighting against "unregulated" electronic cigarettes.
On the other hand, it might also have the opposite effect.
:shrug:

yes. i think that is exactly the pharma play here. try to tilt the market back with a medically sanctioned device.

this is a wonderful development though. of course their product will be a joke. but it will legitimize the whole idea.

and the best part (to me) is that it will undercut the entry mini market. i still think the majority of players there are a liability.

 

[DC2]

interesting article, shame companies like intellicig sell complete crap though

I don't know about that, Intellicig has been around a long time.

They make Ecopure juice, which is well known and liked by many.
And it might be some of the purest juice you'll find.
In fact Cignot even sells Ecopure juice.

They are not really "one of those" companies.

In fact, if they sold an eGo/Riva/Tornado type model, you might say there is nothing much to complain about their products.
Unfortunately, looking over their website, I don't see anything but cigarette sized models.

I remember back in the day they used to sell a popular M401 model.
Not sure what the model is that they are selling now though.

 

[steve321]

I don't know about that, Intellicig has been around a long time.

They make Ecopure juice, which is well known and liked by many.
And it might be some of the purest juice you'll find.
In fact Cignot even sells Ecopure juice.

They are not really "one of those" companies.

In fact, if they sold an eGo/Riva/Tornado type model, you might say there is nothing much to complain about their products.
Unfortunately, looking over their website, I don't see anything but cigarette sized models.

I remember back in the day they used to sell a popular M401 model.
Not sure what the model is that they are selling now though.

It's the fact they are conning people saying 1 cartridge is equal to 40 cigarettes, that's a complete lie


________________________________________
Please supply a link to this on their website.

Admin
admin[AT]e-cigarette-forum[DOT]com
________________________________________

 

[DC2]

It's the fact they are conning people saying 1 cartridge is equal to 40 cigarettes, that's a complete lie

Well, yeah, there is that...

 

[Bill Godshall]

This isn't the first time I've heard that an e-cigarette company was planning to conduct clinical trials and seek government approval to market the product as an NRT, but its the first time I recall seeing a company issue a press release making that claim. But don't hold your breath waiting for MHRA to approve Nicadex as an NRT, as that process takes several years (at least here in the US with the FDA).

Regardless, if/when an e-cigarette product is approved as an NRT by UK MHRA, US FDA or a regulatory agency in another country, sales of all e-cigarettes will further increase and e-cigarette prohibitonists will go totally nuts (as they try to explain why one e-cigarette product is life saving medicine that should be subsidized by taxpayers and healthcare insurance policy holders, while claiming that all other e-cigarette products are addictive, poisonous and evil, are intented to prevent smokers from quitting nicotine, emit vapor as hazardous as cigarette smoke, are target marketed to addict youth, and should be banned).

If/when the US FDA approves an e-cigarette product as an NRT, the agency will have a difficult time explaining why it has been making false and misleading claims about e-cigarettes since 2009, and why it has continued posting those false claims on its website.

 

[Petrodus]

If/when the US FDA approves an e-cigarette product as an NRT, the agency will have a difficult time explaining why it has been making false and misleading claims about e-cigarettes since 2009, and why it has continued posting those false claims on its website.

Seriously...Do you really think that would be one their big concerns?

 

[Traver]

If/when the US FDA approves an e-cigarette product as an NRT, the agency will have a difficult time explaining why it has been making false and misleading claims about e-cigarettes since 2009, and why it has continued posting those false claims on its website.

When could be a very long time!

 

[rolygate]

@Bill
Yes, that sounds about right.

We expect the UK license to be obtained reasonably soon because it's been 2 years+ in the making so far, and Intellicig would probably not want to jeopardise it by a lot of publicity if it isn't fairly certain. I think we can assume it's a done deal, only the formalities remain.*
*Update: expected within six months

There has been some pressure on the MHRA at government level in this area, and there are several reasons why they may now favour licensing an individual product.

- They can tell gov that progress is being made
- They can answer criticisms that current NRTs are useless
- They can assist their bosses in the DoH, Department of Health, in deflecting criticism about the huge cost vs almost zero results of current health department quit-smoking policies
- Some of their 'friends' are currently planning to bring out similar devices

ECCA UK and others have been commenting on how the NHS spends ~£180m a year on the Stop Smoking Services, for a net reduction in smoking prevalence of about 0.1% per year. This may be a source of embarrassment (we certainly hope it is). ECCA may only be a small concern but with the media globally contacting it for comments, it obviously punches above its weight. In the UK just now there is a lot of pressure to find cuts everywhere, and the health service is not exempt. Budget could be related to performance, that after all is the modern way, and their SSS performance is abysmal - and ECCA makes sure everyone knows it.

The climate is right for the licensing of an e-cig for medical purposes in the UK. Everyone without exception knows it is a standard e-cig but that is neither here nor there - as long as the right noises are made, it should get the green light. Intellicig also have the very positive advantage of an excellent e-liquid, and there are no questions about its quality or fitness for purpose. It's 100% VG but keep in mind that Dow Chemical are putting their weight behind acceptance of pharma glycerine as the #1 choice for inhalation, to replace PG [google 'dow optim'].

So all in all, a UK MA (Marketing Authorisation, the official name for a pharma license) is on the cards fairly soon. The US is a different matter entirely. The MHRA will not lose face by licensing an e-cig with sufficient quality controls - all they ever said was that e-cigs are unlicensed drug delivery devices. They did not issue hysterical press releases about hypothetical dangers or whatever. The FDA are in another boat entirely: they have gone on and on about how 'dangerous' e-cigs could be.

However I feel that even in the US, a medical license is inevitable - the FDA's 'friends' will want to get in on the act sooner or later. They will exert the required pressure, and bingo, a pharma e-cig will get licensed. Just a question of time.

Time heals all, so after a suitable length of time when the FDA have not mentioned any 'dangers', the licensing process will begin. About now, someone at pharma will be whispering in Mr FDA's ear, and telling him that a pharma e-cig would be nicely profitable for all. So I'd give it five years. As I'm a pessimist it may be less.

A pharma license in the US will be cheaper than for most products, all the docs will be available, plus two year's worth of clinical trial data. Not to mention the extremely useful fact that after seven years in the wild, precisely zero evidence of mortality or morbidity exists. That will make a very nice change indeed for Mr FDA and we should not discount it.

Whoever gets to the market first with a medical e-cig will essentially have a license to print money. That being the case, it won't take too long. The US market will be tens of millions of dollars in Year 1, so it is almost certain to happen one day.

 

[azzaman]

Rolygate, am i reading this correctly?

"Exposure to vapor by inhalation is unlikely because of the low volatility at room
temperature. Vapor from heated material or mist may cause respiratory irritation" ??????

 

[rolygate]

That sounds like fairly standard stuff from an MSDS?

Anyway, if there's an MSDS for water, it will quote exactly that.

 

[azzaman]

Lol. Ok point taken. I am surprised that the company went with vg instead of pg e liquid. Are you aware of any reason for this?

 

[rolygate]

Um, to be honest - no. It was some time ago.

Their research and manufacturing facility is overseen by the local university staff. Their liquid was designed by Chris Lord, the co-founder, in 2008/9. They have access to some big academic names worldwide. So I'd hazard a guess that when they started, they were told VG was the way to go. Yes, PG is used in lung transplant patients' nebulizers but maybe that's because of the very high performance of PG as a bactericide and virucide.

It seems a toss-up to me which you choose, but there does seem to be some weight behind the use of VG for long-term users. I doubt very much whether there will be any solid research on one vs the other for many years, there's no profit in it. If I was designing a liquid base, today, I'd go for Dow Optim plus 2% PG to kill anything nasty. Next month it might be different...

But it does seem to me as if their liquid is a big positive for the licensing issues, plus the fact their liquid design and manufacturing is handled the right way. Their set-up is expensive, with higher than usual overheads, so the medical route is a good one for them. It would be much more difficult for other firms to get a license as their facilities are nowhere near the same quality.

Any e-cig would do the job so that's kind of a side issue. They may need to control the dosage more tightly in some way, not sure. They might need to use foil-sealed cartos and all that kind of thing. Actually I think they are still on an atty and cart system with the M401, it's a bit old-tech. At some stage in the future they'll need to change to cartos. It's probably hard to buy an M401 carto right now.

 

[azzaman]

The company deserves a pat on the back for helping move e cigs into mainstream NRT. Obviously there is a lot of money in it, but that's the nature of the free market, capitalism, what ever.

The wheeze in my chest went after my first 2 days of vaping. I can't generalize this to everyone, but pg has noticeably improved my lung health. So what you have said about pg makes sense.

I'm tempted to purchase some e liquid from them and see how it goes, but the pound is still smashing the AUD.