22nd Century Group – Reduced Nicotine Tobacco, Hemp/Cannabis, and Hops

James Mish, CEO of 22nd Century Group, a leading agricultural biotechnology company, talks about the company’s commitment and mission to improving human health with reduced nicotine tobacco, hemp/cannabis, and hops advanced plant technology. The company’s new VLN cigarette is a reduced nicotine content cigarette with 95% less nicotine than a conventional cigarette. VLN ® recently received FDA authorization – making it the only cigarette to have received modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) authorization. It is now available through a national pilot in the Chicago area. Mish talks about the clinical studies that have determined how this new cigarette reduces harm by breaking the addiction to nicotine – along with helping people smoke less and make more attempts at quitting. In addition, he discusses the recently announced transformational acquisition of GVB Biopharma, one of the largest providers of hemp-derived active ingredients for the pharmaceutical and consumer goods industries worldwide. This acquisition establishes 22nd Century Group as a global one-of-a-kind company to serve the rapidly growing hemp/cannabis ingredient market.

Mr. Mish was appointed Chief Executive Officer in June 2020. He has an outstanding track record of delivering profitable growth at both privately-held and publicly-traded science-driven companies with a focus on pharmaceutical and consumer products commercialization. Prior to joining 22nd Century, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Purisys, a synthetic cannabinoid API, ingredients and solutions provider to pharmaceutical and consumer products companies, and Noramco, a global leader in the production of controlled substances for the pharmaceutical industry. There, Mr. Mish led the private equity carve out of Noramco from Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Pharmaceuticals and spearheaded the subsequent creation and spinoff of Purisys from Noramco. Mr. Mish began his career at Pfizer in research and development before holding positions of increasing responsibility at several companies including as President of Ashland Specialty Ingredients – Consumer Specialties, a major division of Ashland Corporation, a premier, global specialty materials company serving customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets.