Juul devices and cartridges can continue to be sold in the US – at least for now.
Juul Labs was able to get a temporary hold on the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ban on its devices.
Juul filed an emergency motion with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit the day after the ban on its devices and tobacco and menthol flavored cartridges was issued, seeking the temporary hold while it appeals the sales ban.
The e-cigarette maker asked the court to pause what it called an “extraordinary and unlawful action” by FDA which would have forced it to immediately cease operations. The US market makes up more than 90% of Juul’s global sales. According to Nielsen data, Juul has the largest share of the US e-cigarette market with a 35.7% share followed by British American Tobacco (BAT) at 31.1% and NJOY at 3%.
In its court document, Juul claimed that it had submitted a 125,000-page application to FDA over two years prior, also stating that the application had various research to assess the health concerns associated with Juul users.
FDA requires that companies demonstrate their products benefit public health, which in practice means demonstrating that adult smokers who use them are probably going to quit or cut back on smoking while minors are probably not going to become addicted to them.
FDA said Juul's application lacked sufficient proof regarding the toxicological profile of its products and raised concerns owing to insufficient and contradictory information, including potentially dangerous substances seeping from its liquid pods.
Juul argued that the FDA cannot claim that there was a "critical and urgent public interest" in taking its products off the market right now given that the agency permitted sales of them while it conducted its investigation.