After FDA Approval, New Tobacco Product To Launch In Atlanta

The pen-like iQOS device is billed as an alternative to cigarettes, but the FDA still does not approve such alternatives, like e-cigarettes, as smoking cessation products.

Eugene Hoshiko / Associated Press

Tobacco company Philip Morris has picked Atlanta as the spot to launch its latest product. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of the IQOS Tuesday.

The agency calls IQOS “an electronic device that heats tobacco-filled sticks wrapped in paper to generate a nicotine-containing aerosol.”

But the greenlight comes with certain marketing restrictions. The agency won’t allow Philip Morris to target ads to teenagers and says it will track how much young people use the product.