IQOS is not an acronym: a call to researchers and journals

Correspondence to Andrew Seidenberg, Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; [email protected]

In 2014, Philip Morris International (PMI) introduced the IQOS heated tobacco product system in Nagoya, Japan.¹ The IQOS design resembles a heated tobacco product previously sold in the USA from 1998 to 2006.² As of November 2019, sales of IQOS have expanded into over 40 countries.³

It has been widely reported in the media that the IQOS brand name is an acronym for ‘I quit ordinary smoking’.^4–6 A lesser reported phrase includes ‘I quit original smoking’.⁷ To our knowledge PMI has never used any acronym to describe IQOS. Furthermore, PMI has repeatedly denied that IQOS is an acronym. For instance, in an interview with Bloomberg, PMI CEO André Calantzopoulos was asked about the meaning of IQOS, with the reporter pointing out that the acronym ‘I Quit Ordinary Smoking’ has appeared on the internet.⁸ PMI responded through a spokesperson that IQOS ‘has no meaning in particular - it’s meant to represent quality, technology, electronics, intelligent systems…’⁸ In addition, PMI was asked whether IQOS was an acronym at the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) meeting discussing the company’s modified risk application. A PMI representative responded by stating that ‘It doesn’t stand for anything’⁹ Relevant excerpts from the meeting can be found in box 1. Finally, PMI maintains a webpage where they explain, ‘Although many have tried to come up with explanations of IQOS, none of these creative ideas are correct. IQOS is not an acronym…’¹⁰

Box 1

Excerpts from 24 January 2018 and 25 January 2018 Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) meetings that discussed the modified risk tobacco product application for IQOS

Transcription from 24 January 2018⁹:

DR. WEITZMAN [(TPSAC member]): ‘Please don’t laugh, but in looking at all the documents provided by the FDA and the industry, I don’t know what IQOS means, what it stands for’.

DR. GILCHRIST [(PMI representative]): ‘Doesn't mean anything’.

DR. WEITZMAN: ‘Doesn't mean anything’.

DR. GILCHRIST: ‘No’.

DR. WEITZMAN: ‘It's not an acronym?’

DR. GILCHRIST: ‘No. In this day and age, it's very difficult to...