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Home > BizTimes Daily > Archives > April 26, 2007
Wisconsin inventor creates 'liquid cigarette'
Published April 26, 2007 - BizTimes Daily
A West Allis inventor and a Milwaukee doctor who treats cancer patients announced today they have received federal approval to proceed with a clinical trial for a "liquid cigarette" to be used as a new nicotine replacement device.
The makers of "Smoke-Break," the newly invented liquid cigarette, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is allowing the clinical trial of the Wisconsin-invented product to begin.
"We are pleased that the FDA has found we are safe to proceed with the clinical trial for Smoke-Break. This is a significant step forward as we continue our efforts to help smokers quit smoking," said Brett Roth, a West Allis resident who invented the liquid cigarette to help him kick his own smoking habit. "Our next step is to secure an agreement with a local hospital or health care provider to host the study."
Smoke-Break is made of a clear plastic tube, uses no flame and resembles an unlit cigarette. The tube is filled with a fruit-flavored gel containing a small dose of nicotine. The user consumes the liquid by lifting the device to his or her mouth and sipping through a mouthpiece, much like they would draw on a cigarette.
"I was a smoker for 20 years and thought there had to be a better way to quit than the other smoke cessation products on the market," Roth said. "The thing that makes this work is the oral aspect. It is not a patch, pill, lozenge or gum. I wanted to duplicate the act of smoking, without the smoke."
Each liquid cigarette contains 1.5 milligrams of nicotine, about as much nicotine as a light cigarette, according to Dr. Carl E. Olson, chairman of the Radiation Oncology Department at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee. Olson is the principal investigator of the clinical trial and one of several investors in the product.
The site of the Milwaukee clinical trial has not been determined.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control, 430,000 people in the U.S. die each year as a result of smoking. Thousands more are negatively afflicted with various respiratory and other smoke-related illnesses.
Additional information about Smoke-Break can be found at www.liquidcigarette.com.
