Star Scientific Officials Testify

Source from:  Staff Reports 06/12/2010

Two employees of Star Scientific Inc.'s Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals subsidiary -- senior vice president Dr. Curtis Wright and Ryan Lanier -- testified this week before a subcommittee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee that tobacco companies have an obligation to reduce or remove known carcinogens if it is possible to do so. Last year, Henrico County-based Star lost a lawsuit alleging that R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. had infringed its patents for a curing method aimed at reducing nitrosamines in tobacco leaf. Star is appealing. The subcommittee is assigned to help publish a list of harmful materials found in tobacco products. It is to do so by next summer. Star said it hopes the FDA will go beyond publishing lists of toxicants and carcinogens in tobacco to also require tobacco product manufacturers to include the levels of these toxins on product packaging. Enditem