Dr. Shigeaki Ito (right) and Yoshihiro Enomoto (left). Photo credit: JTI
Bio info
Shigeaki Ito
After completing a Ph.D. in agriculture, Dr. Ito joined JT Group in 2010 and since 2016 has been developing a way to consolidate various biological assessment results to better interpret the reduced-risk (RR) potential of the JT Group’s proprietary products.
Yoshihiro Enomoto
Mr. Enomoto joined JT Group in 2017 after working as a chemical analyst for nine years. He has been responsible for the management of indoor air quality (IAQ) analysis of reduced-risk products (RRP).
Tobacco Asia (TA): What is Japan Tobacco International’s (JTI) Ploom X and why is it considered to have potential as a reduced-risk product?
Scientist (Ito-san): Ploom X is JTI’s newest and most evolved heated tobacco sticks device. It has been available nationwide in Japan since August 2021 and more recently in the UK, Italy, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Greece, and Kazakhstan. We expect to launch Ploom X in almost 30 countries by the end of 2024.
Ploom X is part of our RRP portfolio; its products, we believe, have the potential to reduce the risks associated with smoking. RRP typically do not burn tobacco and do not produce smoke. Ploom X generates an aerosol by heating tobacco without combusting it. The result is a vapor that contains fewer harmful and potentially harmful constituents than cigarette smoke.
Ploom X results in an average 90-95% reduction in the level of nine constituents recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for reduction in cigarette smoke1. This does not mean that the use of Ploom X is safe or eliminates health or addiction risks associated with tobacco use as no tobacco product is safe.
TA: You and your scientist colleagues at JTI recently conducted indoor air quality (IAQ) and toxicology assessment studies involving Ploom X. What were the goals and results of that research?
Ito-san: The goal of this research was to reinforce evidence supporting the reduced-risk potential of Ploom X. However, achieving our research goal by only using in-vitro testing – meaning tests that are conducted in test tubes and similar equipment, as opposed to in-vivo tests, which are conducted using living test subjects – is still challenging. Therefore, using new test methods is the key to success as it helps us obtain more scientific data.
Enomoto-san: The IAQ study aimed to quantify the levels of selected constituents in environmental air after the use of Ploom X. These levels were compared with those from a reference cigarette smoked under the same conditions.
TA: Talking about “new test methods”, during those studies you deployed the “organ-on-a-chip” technology as an assessment tool. It is relatively new, so few people are aware of it. Please briefly explain what “organ-on-a-chip” is.
Ito-san: “Organ-on-a-chip” is a micro-physiological system aimed at recreating human organ-like cell cultures on a tiny microchip. The technology allows us to reproduce organ-specific characteristics, functions, and even the surrounding physiological micro-environment. By using “organ-on-a-chip”, scientists can more accurately predict what will happen if specific human organs are exposed to test substances2.
TA: Why is “organ-on-a-chip” a perfect scientific tool in the context of toxicology assessment studies of RRP? What can “organ-on-a-chip” achieve that more conventional research tools cannot?
Ito-san: Firstly, it would be inaccurate to say that conventional research tools are inefficient. What is important is that we use testing methods that are fit for purpose. But as I mentioned, the “organ-on-a-chip” technology enables us to mimic the local physiological environment in human bodies. The technology has great potential. However, there is still much to be improved with this technology before it becomes a perfect tool. For example, we still must investigate how accurately the results of studies using “organ-on-a-chip” systems would predict the actual effects on humans. This point is crucial, not only for the tobacco industry, but also for the broader scientific community to advance in other areas of study.
TA: But, since you‘ve already used it in your recent studies, “organ-on-a-chip” obviously could well become a tool of choice for assessments of combustible or heated tobacco products.
Ito-san: Yes, “organ-on-a-chip” indeed has the potential to be a tool for assessments of tobacco products in the future, but as I said, there is still room for improvement. Regarding the setting, in our recent studies using “organ-on-a-chip”, we compared the biological effects of heated tobacco products and conventional cigarettes. In our previous report, we used something called “vascular-on-a-chip”3 for the evaluation of Ploom X. In that research, we exposed the cell culture to aerosol extract from Ploom X and compared its biological impact with that of cigarette smoke extract.
TA: What were the actual results of your Ploom X studies? What were the specific findings in terms of IAQ and toxicology?
Ito-san: When testing our products, we normally conduct comparative studies. The “organ-on-a-chip” testing system aims to recapitulate the pathology of diseases under realistic conditions when the testing material (i.e., the cell culture) is exposed to aerosol produced by Ploom X. The results of the study reflected the reduced-risk potential of Ploom X. In the “vascular-on-a-chip study” we found that Ploom X did not induce, or induced fewer, biological events related to artery diseases.
Enomoto-san: Indoor air quality (IAQ) assessments refer to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially in the way it relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. In our IAQ study, we measured the indoor air concentrations of chemical components produced when using Ploom X indoors and simulated the environmental conditions of residential spaces and restaurants. We found that the use of Ploom X impacts indoor air quality less negatively when compared to smoking.
TA: Will these findings lead to further product improvements of Ploom X?
Ito-san: While our findings from these studies were valuable, an accumulation of test results, including chemical and biological analyses from other studies we have conducted and will continue to conduct, will indeed help us to further evaluate and refine our RRP products such as Ploom X.
TA: So, this was not just a one-off research project, but is in fact part of broader ongoing research?
Ito-san: Of course. We have various research projects not limited to “organ-on-a-chip”. As the vapor from heated tobacco products is inhaled by the consumer, we also have research projects to investigate the reduced-risk potential on the respiratory tract. In addition, computational science is also a valuable tool because it allows us to handle large-scale datasets. As such, we examine the potential of reduced-risk products from a variety of research perspectives.
TA: What can the RRP industry in general learn from your research and how important is scientific research for JTI for developing a customer-centric approach?
Enomoto-san: JTI believes that heated tobacco products have the potential to reduce the risks associated with smoking. These products are an essential part of the wider industry’s continuing evolution and, thus, also an important step into the future of our company. There is increasing worldwide demand for RRP, as nicotine users look at alternatives to smoking. Science helps incorporate the latest technologies into the evaluation of tobacco products and allows JTI to understand how these products contribute to reducing population-wide health risks. In addition, from a customer-centric point of view, the industry is responsible for providing adequate information about products with science-based evidence in an easy-to-understand and accurate manner.
JTI’s success has always depended on our ability to understand our consumers’ preferences and provide them with choices based on these. As a responsible business, we are committed to creating, developing, testing, and commercializing new products that have the potential to reduce the risks associated with smoking, thereby empowering adult consumers through informed choice.
1Based on machine-measured data comparing 9 harmful constituents recommended for reduction in cigarette smoke by the WHO measured in smoke of a standard reference cigarette (1R6F) and the vapor from Ploom X.
2The technology “embeds” human cell cultures on a microchip. When these cell cultures are exposed to test substances, for example, HTP aerosol or cigarette smoke, the cells’ physiological reactions can be examined by various techniques such as fluorescent microscopy, enzymatic reaction, etc.
3Depending of the objective of any particular study, various human cells can be deployed in organ-on-a-chip. In this case it was vascular cells, i.e., the cells of which the human body’s vascular systems is composed.