* Cigarette-shaped Voke Inhaler wins licence from MHRA
* Further licensing needed before commercialisation
* No heat or vapour, in contrast to e-cigarettes
* BAT unit working with Kind Consumer, Consort Medical (Adds interview with Nicoventures executive, further details)
By Ben Hirschler
LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - A new nicotine inhaler to besold by a unit of British American Tobacco has beenlicensed in the UK as a medicinal product, marking the arrivalof a novel alternative in the fast-growing market for electroniccigarettes.
The cigarette-shaped Voke Inhaler marks a further move byone of the world's biggest tobacco companies to defend its turfin a rapidly changing market. Since it involves no heat,electronics or battery it is not classified as an e-cigarette.
The uptake of e-cigarettes, which use battery-poweredcartridges to produce a nicotine-laced vapour, has rocketed inthe past two years and the market is now estimated to be worth$3 billion a year - but there is fierce debate about the risks.
BAT, the world's second-biggest cigarette maker with brandslike Pall Mall and Lucky Strike, already sells a conventionale-cigarette called Vype, which was promoted on Britishtelevision this year in the first TV adverts by a tobaccocompany in more than two decades.
The new Voke product was developed by Kind Consumer and thenext step will be to submit a variation to the licence grantedby the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency(MHRA) to support full-scale commercialisation by BAT's nicotinesubstitute division Nicoventures, the companies said on Friday.
Kevin Bridgman, chief medical officer at Nicoventures, saidthe additional licence was needed to achieve automatedmanufacture and the further regulatory step was likely to takesome months.
Shares in BAT's partner Consort Medical, which hasa manufacturing contract for the product and whose Bespak unitalready has experience in inhalation devices from making asthmainhalers, rose more than 5 percent on news of the MHRA greenlight.
For BAT, whose share price was little changed, thedevelopment of Voke is part of a strategy of hedging its bets asits core tobacco business declines in Western markets, wheremany consumers are quitting smoking.
LOOKING TO OTHER MARKETS
Bridgman said he believes the new device will suit manypeople who want to quit smoking but are still wary aboute-cigarettes.
"The fact that it (Voke) has been licensed by the medicinesregulator provides the assurances around quality and safety thatmany smokers are seeking," he told Reuters.
"I'm fairly confident that most e-cigarettes contain fewertoxins than conventional cigarettes, but the trouble is thatwithout standards and without someone overseeing things thenconsumers can't be sure."
BAT is also looking at rolling out the Voke Inhaler in othermarkets, although Bridgman declined to go into details.
The issue of potential risks from e-cigarettes washighlighted by the World Health Organization last month, whichcalled for stiff regulation as well as bans on their indoor use,advertising and sales to minors.
It remains to be seen how widely BAT's new product will beaccepted by consumers, since it offers a somewhat differentexperience to e-cigarettes. Unlike an e-cigarette, the Voke doesnot produce a visible vapour when inhaled, although it doesreproduce other elements of smoking, including a typical "throatcatch".
Bridgman declined to say how much the new product wouldcost, citing commercial considerations ahead of its launch, butsaid it would be competitive.
BAT hopes its Voke Inhaler will compete with bothe-cigarettes and nicotine-replacement therapies, such as gum andpatches, as well as Johnson & Johnson's existingNicorette Inhalator, which is not a cigarette look-alike.
(Editing by Paul Sandle and Greg Mahlich)
