//Interview: Imperial Brands Science @ EVO NXT 2025

Sarah Cordery, Scientific Officer, recently presented newly published evidence supporting the potential role of heated tobacco in harm reduction at the EVO NXT conference in Milan.

Science Communications Manager Rob Taylor spoke with Sarah to learn more.

Why did Imperial Brands attend EVO NXT 2025? 

We’re really excited about our continuing transformation to address society’s concerns about the health risks of smoking, and we recognise our important role in helping to reduce the harm caused by combustible tobacco through our next generation products (NGP). 

Last year, our scientists published two extensive (i.e. reviewing 300+ studies), open-access reviews of the available literature on heated tobacco. (Read more here.) The data clearly demonstrate the overall scientific evidence – at both individual and population levels – supports the category’s positive public health potential through tobacco harm reduction (THR).

We attended EVO NXT 2025to present these findings in more detail to a wider audience to create broader awareness of the existing evidence supporting harm reduction. 

Through these kinds of important engagement opportunities, we continue to amplify the external messaging around the importance of transparent, collaborative, and rigorous science to help build academic, regulatory, and public belief in THR and NGP. 

Is there any evidence that heated tobacco (because it is relatively similar to smoking) appeals more than other cessation methods and reduced-risk products to some people? In other words, are there some smokers who might switch to heated tobacco, but couldn’t switch/give up in another way? 

Recent Eurobarometer data show that only about 4% of adult smokers in the European Region have tried nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) to quit smoking. Therefore, obviously, smokers need to be provided with alternative options to transition away from cigarettes, even if they’re unwilling to give up smoking or consuming nicotine. 

Heated tobacco (HT) is arguably the next generation product (NGP) with the most similarity to cigarettes. It’s tobacco based, and its behavioural and sensorial facets also recall elements of the smoking experience. 

This means it’s an attractive category for those adult smokers uninterested in moving away from cigarettes – and the findings we presented at EVO NXT bear that view out.

This is also illustrated by some compelling numbers from recent research we conducted – an in-market, as close as possible to real world behavioural study in the Czech Republic focused solely on HT.  

Prior to study onset, all our adult smoker participants expressed no intention to quit. However, after only a single week we already observed substantial reductions in smoking of over 35%. By the end of the study (24 weeks), half of consumers had completely switched or cut smoking by at least 50%. (Russell et al., 2025 (in press))  

This is an encouraging indication that high quality HT devices can help switch adult smokers – even those with no prior intention to quit – away from cigarettes.  

That said, every adult smoker’s experience of moving away from cigarettes will be unique, so we firmly advocate that a range of diverse NGP (categories, formats, flavours, nicotine strengths etc.) maximises their opportunity to leave cigarettes behind for good. 

What influence do new regulatory developments have on our NGP strategy? 

To achieve better public health outcomes, we believe legislation and regulation clearly need to be driven by quality science, and robust data – not emotion or ideology.  

The tobacco harm reduction equation provides the ideal consumer-centric framework to help begin shaping a positive environment for next generation product regulation and tobacco harm reduction.

Risk-proportionate legislation that considers and supports the above elements can maximise the resulting positive public health impact and potentially accelerate the decline of smoking by helping more smokers to transition away from cigarettes.

These include: 

• Creating conditions for manufacturers to launch innovative and NGP that satisfy adult smokers who are unwilling or uninterested to quit and who would otherwise continue to smoke. 

• Advocating NGP based on the scientific substantiation of their harm reduction potential through peer-reviewed science. 

• Ensuring high product standards are in place to build consumer confidence. 

• Allowing manufacturers to educate consumers and combat misperceptions through responsible marketing and communications, to maximise adult smoker switching. 

• Ensuring robust and consistent enforcement is in place to help ensure product compliance, minimise the illicit trade, and prevent unintended use esp. by youth. 

Unhelpful NGP regulation – which incorrectly considers tobacco harm reduction as a threat to traditional tobacco control measures, rather than embracing its potential as a complementary measure – is essentially the opposite of all the above. 

While we engage widely to ensure optimum regulatory environments to allow NGP to positively impact public health, our next generation product strategy is dependent on, and reflected by, prevailing regulatory conditions on a per-market basis. 

(You can read more about NGP regulation courtesy of our Group Science & Regulatory Affairs Director Joe Thompson here.)

Which target groups are discovering your NGP for the first time? 

Sarah presents our findings on stage in Milan, Italy.

We’re very clear that our next generation products are for adult smokers and adult nicotine users only. 

Our entire NGP philosophy reflects a no-tolerance approach to youth access. This cuts through every stage of our products’ lifespans – from conception, development, and manufacturing through to perception and behavioural science, marketing, and post-market surveillance. 

Our consumer-centric and data-driven approach to NGP means that, by better meeting consumer needs, we’re certainly offering our cigarette alternatives to more and more adult smokers looking to consume nicotine but in a potentially harm reduced manner compared to combustible tobacco. 

We consider this extremely encouraging news for public health. 

How does Imperial consider heated tobacco compares with vapes and other reduced-risk products in terms of risk? The general consensus is that it’s safer than smoking, but not as safe as vaping – right?

That is a fair representation of the general consensus, with which we agree.  

Firstly, NGP are not risk-free. To help people understand the harm reduction potential of NGP relative to cigarettes, Imperial Brands has developed our own relative risk scale. 

Each product’s position along the scale is informed by various criteria – including whether they contain/combust tobacco, levels of toxicants etc. 

Based on this, in terms of NGP, HT sits closest to cigarettes in terms of its risk profile – albeit significantly harm reduced (i.e. an average reduction of up to 96% in levels of toxicants compared to cigarette smoke: see here for more details).  

The key message to take away when looking at either the continuum of risk or our own relative risk scale (above) is the crucial distinction between high-risk cigarettes and other, potentially reduced harm nicotine-containing products – including HT – that don’t involve any tobacco combustion.

What are the biggest challenges heated tobacco faces right now?  

Myths and misperceptions are certainly key challenges – not just around the harm reduction potential of HT and other NGP like vapes relative to cigarettes, but also nicotine itself (many people, not just consumers but also healthcare providers and regulators, still believe it’s carcinogenic and the main cause of smoking-related disease; it’s not!). 

Evidence-based education and dispelling these kinds of myths is crucial to enable informed choice and improving uptake of NGP like HT by adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke. 

Supportive regulatory environments are also vital; look at countries like the UK, Sweden, and New Zealand who have implemented tobacco harm reduction (THR) policies and have been rewarded with positive public health results.  

Conversely, aggressive excise duties, flavour restrictions, or even complete NGP bans, can result in negative consequences for population-level public health, opens the doors to criminals through the illicit trade, and thus further hinders THR. 

Mistrust of the tobacco industry – and of any large corporations – remains an issue, but Imperial Brands is working hard to shift perceptions through engagement and transparent communication and publication of our science through robust, independent peer-review processes.

We believe collaborative, rigorous science, and high product standards are the way to create effective, potentially harm reduced alternatives to cigarettes that are trusted and used by adult smokers. 

What changes would you like to see in the industry in the future? 

The broader tobacco/nicotine industry is evolving rapidly. Imperial Brands has adopted a challenger mindset, with a consumer-led, data-driven approach and a commitment to consumer-centric science and innovation. 

Although positive progress is undoubtedly being made we’d love to see this commitment recognised externally even more – resulting in greater trust that allows us to collaborate more closely around science, innovation, communications and policy with public health and regulators for the benefit of global public health. 

We’re also passionate about driving the evolution of NGP science, including our recent raft of in-market behavioural studies which generate incredibly relevant and persuasive ‘real world’ data, as well as human-relevant in-vitro models to further assess longer health impacts. 

Industry would doubtless appreciate more freedom to communicate with our consumers for our NGP. Many adult smokers and adult nicotine consumers simply don’t see themselves as either patients or victims, and any NGP marketing and other communications need to be able to reflect that.

Finally, as a responsible manufacturer committed to safeguarding our consumers, Imperial Brands is concerned about the growing societal issues around NGP – particularly a rise in illicit trade.  

Frustratingly, counterfeit and poor quality NGP, or retailers who sell these products to youth, have the potential to severely undermine the exciting public health opportunity that THR represents. 

And what changes would you like to see from consumer behaviour? 

Although there are other important factors we believe consumers – or more specifically large-scale consumer understanding and acceptance – is key to the success of THR.

That means continuing to listen closely to consumers to understand their individual needs, and creating satisfying, high quality, trusted NGP that help facilitate tobacco harm reduction while meeting their evolving needs. 

It also means ensuring that NGP aren’t used by unintended populations, like youth – and cracking down on unscrupulous manufacturers and retailers who help facilitate this through illicit products and practices. 

Lastly, the ability to better communicate to consumers the lifestyle benefits and harm reduction potential of switching from cigarettes to high quality NGP, would be an important step to beginning to effectively combat these growing societal issues. 

Are there other important messages you would like to share? 

Manufacturing NGP to help facilitate tobacco harm reduction is clearly a serious responsibility, and it’s one we don’t take lightly. 

We hope that – in the future – regulators, public health, the media, and consumers themselves are guided by science rather than hearsay, myths, bias, or emotion.  

Tobacco harm reduction presents an amazing public health opportunity, and one we must not let slip. 

Follow us on LinkedIn and read more about our intentions to help create potentially healthier futures for our consumers on our corporate website. You are free to share this content with credit to Imperial Brands under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) license.