The e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs, Inc., is temporarily back in business after a federal appeals court granted a temporary hold on the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) issuance of marketing denial orders (MDOs) for all of Juul’s vape devices and pods.
Juul filed an emergency appeal on June 24, one day after the FDA issued the order, which forced the company to stop selling and distributing vaping products in the U.S. In the appeal, Juul claims that nearly two years ago, it submitted a 125,000-page application to the FDA but that the agency overlooked approximately 6,000 pages of data. The temporary hold allows Juul to keep selling until the federal court reviews the appeal for the emergency review, the Associated Press reported.
Calling the ban an “extraordinary and unlawful action,” Juul described the move by the FDA as politically-motivated due to the fact that Congress has blamed the company for single handedly causing the teen vaping epidemic.
The FDA’s issuance of the MDOs immediately halted Juul’s ability to sell its vaping devices, flavored tobacco and menthol-flavored cartridges in the United States. Additionally, the MDOs prevent retailers or distributors from carrying or selling Juul labs products. FDA regulators say the MDOs were a necessary step after finally analyzing the safety of the multi-billion-dollar vaping industry after years of regulatory delays.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is reviewing Juul’s emergency appeal.
Juul once dominated the e-cigarette market but its share of the U.S. vape market is today half of what it was in 2019, after the company faced enormous pressure by Congress to stop selling fruit and dessert flavors of e-cigarette fluid because they had become popular with minors and young adults. In 2020, the FDA limited Juul to only selling regular-flavored tobacco and menthol-flavored vape cartridges.
Juul faces nearly 4,000 personal injury vaping lawsuits. No lawsuits have gone to trial yet.