FDA Creates Database for Legally Marketed Tobacco Products
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched the Searchable Tobacco Products Database, a new user-friendly list of tobacco products — including e-cigarettes — that may be legally marketed in the United States.
Updated monthly, the online database has been designed to provide key information for the public in a single location, with easy-to-use search capabilities especially tailored toward retailers.
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The list provides information on three categories of products:
- New tobacco products that received marketing authorization through one of FDA's three pathways to market a new tobacco product;
- Pre-existing tobacco products established through a voluntary determination program (commercially marketed as of Feb. 15, 2007); and
- Provisional tobacco products that were removed from review.
"[Center for Tobacco Products] remains committed to enhanced transparency in a way that is useful, timely and user-friendly," said Brian King, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products. "We hope that this database will be an asset to stakeholders … that will be used to help facilitate compliance with the law."
The database currently contains nearly 17,000 tobacco products, with more than 12,000 being pre-existing products. For each entry, FDA provides the product name, company, category, sub-category, the authority permitting its sale in the United States and the date of FDA action. Additionally, the database includes links to regulatory and scientific documents, along with related documents associated with a tobacco product application.
To help explain some of the terminology and context about the content of the database, FDA developed the Searchable Tobacco Products Database — Additional Information webpage. The site features answers to potential questions about the database, including a question related to unauthorized products with pending applications.
Four states — Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Wisconsin — had previously passed legislation to create their own directories of legal vape products to assist local retailers. The state directory in Louisiana is currently on hold following a legal challenge, while the Wisconsin directory is expected go live in mid-2025.
Retailers interested in utilizing the new FDA tobacco directory may find it here.