Iqos

IQOS (/ˈaɪkoʊs/ EYE-kohs) is a line of heated tobacco products designed to be used with tobacco and nicotine-containing consumables. They are manufactured by Philip Morris International (PMI). The brand was first introduced in November 2014 in Japan and Italy. In 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized PMI to make "reduced exposure" marketing claims for Iqos in the United States, although this was accompanied with controversy, as Reuters published documents and testimonies from former employees alleging irregularities in the clinical trials. According to a review by the World Health Organization, the existing evidence does not indicate that people smoking heated tobacco products are exposed to less harm from tobacco-related diseases compared to people smoking conventional cigarettes. According to Philip Morris’s own estimates, heated tobacco products generate a net profit margin 2.6 times higher than that of conventional cigarettes.