22nd Century Group, Inc. announced its FDA authorized VLN reduced nicotine content cigarettes designed specifically to promote tobacco harm reduction are now available at more than 1,200 drug store locations across Texas, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Georgia beginning in September. With this most recent addition, VLN(R) is available in more than 4,000 stores across 16 states, compared with approximately 1,100 stores at July 1. VLN is the first and only FDA authorized combustible cigarette labelled as a tobacco harm reduction product. As demonstrated by leading independent scientists and reviewed by the FDA, reducing the nicotine level in cigarettes has the potential to substantially reduce the enormous burden of smoking-related death and disease.

It is estimated that a nicotine product standard to a level that is 95% less than the level of nicotine contained in U.S. conventional cigarettes could save millions of lives and tens of millions of life-years over the next several decades.