Trading name Kind Consumer Ltd Headquarters London, England, UK Founded 2006 Type Privately held company | Founder Alex Hearn Products Voke Number of employees 15 | |
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Industry Pharmaceuticals
Medical Devices
Medical Research and Development Key people Paul Triniman
(Chief Executive Officer)
Alex Hearn
(Founder, Chief Product Officer)
Dr Chris Moyses
(Chief Medical Officer) | ||
Kind Consumer Limited is a UK-based healthcare company which focuses on developing novel inhalation technologies to address tobacco harm reduction. The company was founded in 2006 by Alex Hearn, a British inventor and entrepreneur based in London
Contents
Product Development Rationale
The development rationale of inhaler technology is to provide a novel format of nicotine delivery which offers smokers a more acceptable alternative to the tobacco cigarette to help them cut down, substitute and quit - a concept known as tobacco harm reduction.
The health burden of tobacco usage and in particular tobacco smoking is very well known. Tobacco smoking is a major global health epidemic with an estimated 1.3 billion individuals regularly smoking tobacco products across the world, predominantly cigarettes. It is well established that the key pharmacological element of tobacco addiction is the delivery of nicotine to the brain, leading to the release of a range of neurotransmitters such as dopamine which yield powerful feelings of “reward” and “pleasure” to the individual. The tobacco cigarette is a highly efficient nicotine delivery system that achieves rapid pulmonary delivery and sharp increases in the nicotine concentration in both arterial and venous blood. Although nicotine is the predominant addictive chemical in tobacco smoke, it is the other (approximately 4000) chemicals, including carcinogenic agents in the particulate phase, that lead to the well-established adverse health consequences of smoking. The World Health Organisation estimates that tobacco usage killed around 5.4 million people a year and by 2030 projections estimate this figure will rise to around 8.3 million deaths per year.
Existing Regulatory Approved Nicotine Delivery Products
It has been argued that long-term success rates of existing NRT in smoking cessation remain low, with a recent study showing that only 6.75% of smokers receiving NRT therapy attained sustained abstinence for six months, albeit twice the rate of placebo treatment.
As an explanation for these findings it has been argued that the major limitation with delivery of nicotine by current nicotine replacement therapy products is that they do not provide smokers with the combination of a rapid delivery of nicotine and the unique respiratory tract sensory cues of inhaled nicotine (particularly upper airway irritation) which together are of primary importance in relieving craving for cigarettes. The nicotine nasal spray does achieve rapid delivery of nicotine but lacks the inhalational cues of cigarettes and has demonstrated limited acceptability due to the local irritant effects of nicotine on the nasal mucosa. The nicotine vapour Inhaler, although simulating the behavioural aspects of smoking and presenting some sensory cues, delivers nicotine very much slower than a cigarette.
Voke
Kind Consumer's inhaler technology was licensed for commercialisation to Nicoventures, a consumer healthcare company established by British American Tobacco to bring to market regulatory approved innovative nicotine delivery products. It was expected that the technology will be manufactured by the Bespak division of Consort Medical, a London Stock Exchange listed healthcare company.
In September 2014, British American Tobacco's Voke became the first imitation cigarette to be authorised by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as a nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The device is seen as a competitor to both e-cigarettes and nicotine-replacement therapies, such as gum and patches, as well as Johnson & Johnson's existing Nicorette Inhalator, which is not designed as an imitation cigarette.
The idea took 13 years to develop and was the brainchild of Alex Hearn, an asthmatic Oxford graduate whose parents smoked and who went through more than 800 prototypes before settling on a design.
The Voke Inhaler contains a micro-valve which is activated by the user inhaling, and unlike an e-cigarette, does not need electronics, batteries or heat to produce a hit of nicotine. Since it uses inhaler technology to deliver the nicotine, the Voke administers a precise dose of the drug which does not contain the tar, tobacco or other substances found in regular cigarettes.
As a medicinal product, Voke can be prescribed by doctors as a safer alternative to smoking. It will also be available to buy over the counter. Industry analysts expected Voke to be launched in 2015. As of September 2016, it is still unavailable.
Notable Investors
Kind Consumer has attracted investment from a large British investment trust and a number of notable high-profile angel investors: