GlobeNewswire Inc | Jan 3, 2022 02:24PM EST

January 03, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y., Jan. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 22nd Century Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: XXII), a leading agricultural biotechnology company focused on tobacco harm reduction, reduced nicotine tobacco, and improving health and wellness through modern plant science, announced today that Company management will participate in two fireside chat events on Wednesday, January 5.

-- Aaron Grey, Head of Consumer Research at Alliance Global Partners, will host an event at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. -- Vivien Azer, Senior Research Analyst specializing in beverages, tobacco, and cannabis at Cowen, will host an event at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

James A. Mish, Chief Executive Officer, Richard Fitzgerald, Chief Financial Officer and Michael Zercher, Chief Operating Officer, will participate from 22nd Century.

The fireside chat events will be available as live webcasts on the 22nd Century website by selecting Investors, then Events, or https://www.xxiicentury.com/investors/events. The events will be available as an archive following the live event.

As part of the fireside chats, 22nd Century management will discuss the recent decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize the marketing of the Companys VLN King and VLN Menthol King reduced nicotine content cigarettes as Modified Risk Tobacco Products (MRTP). In doing so, the Agency found that VLN which smokes, tastes, and smells like a conventional cigarette but contains 95% less nicotine than conventional, highly addictive cigarettes help[s] reduce exposure to, and consumption of, nicotine for smokers who use them.

The FDA authorized the marketing of VLNwith the following MRTP claims in its decision, announced December 23, 2021:

-- Helps you smoke less. -- 95% less nicotine. -- Helps reduce your nicotine consumption. -- ...Greatly reduces your nicotine consumption.

VLN: Americas Lowest Nicotine CigaretteVLN is the first cigarette in the world that is not designed to create or sustain nicotine addiction. VLN smokes, smells, and tastes like a conventional cigarette and is made from U.S. grown tobacco containing 95% less nicotine straight from the plant.

The FDAs decision to authorize 22nd Centurys MRTP claims and to require the additional claim of Helps You Smoke Less on every VLNpack and in every VLNadvertisement where any of the other authorized claims are also used was based on an extensive body of science consisting of dozens of independent scientific and clinical studies using 22nd Centurys reduced nicotine content (RNC) tobacco cigarettes. These studies, which were funded largely by the FDA, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other U.S. federal government agencies, as well as studies funded by 22nd Century, show that smokers who use RNC cigarettes even those with no intention of quitting at the beginning of the studies reduce their nicotine exposure and dependence, smoke fewer cigarettes per day, increase their number of smoke-free days, and double their quit attempts all with minimal or no evidence of nicotine withdrawal symptoms or compensatory smoking.

22nd Century is ready to supply the market with RNC tobacco and finished products such as VLN to enable both 22nd Century and other manufacturers to comply with proposed nicotine caps in the U.S., New Zealand, and other countries as they embrace this innovative and highly effective approach to tobacco harm reduction first proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015. 22nd Centurys plant-based technology and products are superior to costly extraction and similar de-nicotinization technologies because those technologies typically use chemicals that strip out not just nicotine but also flavor and aroma compounds, resulting in a product that has been found unacceptable to smokers because it delivers no smoking satisfaction. In contrast, 22nd Centurys reduced nicotine tobacco naturally grows with very low levels of nicotine resulting in products that smoke, taste, and smell like conventional cigarettes but contain 95% less nicotine than conventional, highly addictive cigarettes. This is critical to creating an acceptable solution and off-ramp for current smokers looking to change their relationship with nicotine.

22nd Century remains committed to licensing its technology and products to every manufacturer to enable industry wide compliance with the proposed nicotine caps.

About 22nd Century Group,Inc.22nd Century Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:XXII) is a leading agricultural biotechnology company focused on tobacco harm reduction, reduced nicotine tobacco and improving health and wellness through plant science. With dozens of patents allowing it to control nicotine biosynthesis in the tobacco plant, the Company has developed proprietary reduced nicotine content (RNC) tobacco plants and cigarettes, which have become the cornerstone of theFDAs Comprehensive Planto address the widespread death and disease caused by smoking. In tobacco, hemp/cannabis, and hop plants, 22nd Century uses modern plant breeding technologies, including genetic engineering, gene-editing, and molecular breeding to deliver solutions for the life science and consumer products industries by creating new, proprietary plants with optimized alkaloid and flavonoid profiles as well as improved yields and valuable agronomic traits.

Learn more atxxiicentury.com, on Twitter@_xxiicentury, and onLinkedIn.

Learn more about VLNattryvln.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsExcept for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements typically contain terms such as anticipate, believe, consider, continue, could, estimate, expect, explore, foresee, goal, guidance, intend, likely, may, plan, potential, predict, preliminary, probable, project, promising, seek, should, will, would, and similar expressions. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are set forth in Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 11, 2021. All information provided in this release is as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Investor Relations & Media Contact:Mei KuoDirector, Communications & Investor Relations22nd Century Group, Inc.(716) 300-1221mkuo@xxiicentury.com