Juul asks FDA to authorize new high-tech vape product

Juul is seeking federal authorization of a new high-tech e-cigarette that can electronically verify a user's age and prevent the use of illicit counterfeit and unauthorized pod refills.

Juul said the new device can connect to a web or smartphone app that uses third-party verification to ensure users are adults, and it includes features like device-locking. 

The introduction of the new device comes as the company awaits word from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on whether its current products can stay on the market. 

The agency last year ordered all Juul e-cigarette products off the market. Juul appealed, and the FDA then suspended the decision to conduct an internal review of "scientific issues" in the company's application. 

Juul said it is continuing to pursue its administrative appeal of the FDA’s decision in order to get its original system back on the market.

The FDA's decision to suspend marketing nearly bankrupted the company. It also subsequently paid $462 million to settle lawsuits with six states and Washington, D.C., alleging that the company aggressively marketed its e-cigarettes to young people and fueled a vaping crisis.

Juul in a statement said the new product will provide a “technological solution for two public-health problems: improving adult-smoker switching from combustible cigarettes and restricting underage access to vapor products.”   

The new product is already for sale in Canada and the UK under the name Juul2. The company said it would sell only tobacco-flavored pods in the U.S. 

All electronic cigarette products are required by law to have FDA authorization to be legally marketed, and the companies must submit scientific evidence of public health benefit.