Kind Consumer

Kind Consumer Limited was a UK-based company that developed Voke, a nicotine inhaler intended to address tobacco harm reduction. The company was founded in 2006 by Alex Hearn, a British inventor and entrepreneur based in London.[1][2][3]

Kind Consumer Ltd
Kind Consumer
TypePrivate company
IndustryPharmaceuticals
FoundedLondon, United Kingdom 2006
FounderAlex Hearn
Defunct9 December 2020 (9 December 2020)
Headquarters
London
,
England, UK
Key people
Alan Sutherland
(Chief Executive Officer)
Alex Hearn
(Founder)
Dr Chris Moyses
(Chief Medical Officer)
ProductsVoke
Number of employees
15
Websitewww.kindconsumer.com

The company collapsed into administration in 2020, after raising £140m in funding from investors.[4]

Voke

Kind Consumer's inhaler, Voke Archived 2019-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, was designed to provide the combination of a rapid delivery of nicotine and the unique respiratory tract sensory cues of inhaled nicotine which together are of primary importance in relieving craving for nicotine. 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.[5]

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.[6] 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.[7]

In late 2010, Kind Consumer agreed an exclusive development and distribution agreement with Nicoventures Limited (later renamed Nicovations Limited) a wholly owned subsidiary of British American Tobacco plc. BAT's manufacturing, intellectual property, manufacturing, marketing and branding rights were assigned to Kind Consumer Archived 2019-02-09 at the Wayback Machine (Jan 2017) who took back ownership for the commercialisation of Voke. 

In September 2014, Voke became the first simulated cigarette to be authorised by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as a nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).[8] The device is seen as a competitor to both e-cigarettes and nicotine-replacement therapies, such as gum and patches.[6]

Voke was launched in the UK on Nov 5th 2019. It can be prescribed as an aid to smoking cessation or reduction, or can be purchased directly from Kind Consumer at a comparable cost to a pack of cigarettes.[9][10]

Funding

Kind Consumer attracted investment from an investment trust and a number of angel investors:[11]

References
  1. Start Uploaded (2011) - Alex Hearn introduces Kind Consumer
  2. realbusiness (2011) -Alex Hearn: entrepreneur with “soul”
  3. realbusiness (2011) - Idea of the week: the healthy cigarette
  4. Voke Goes Up In Smoke - Sky News, 9 December 2020
  5. Times Newspaper (2014) - E-cigarette rival wins medical approval
  6. Hirschler, Ben (12 September 2013). "UPDATE 2-BAT's novel e-cigarette rival wins UK medical approval". Reuters. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  7. Roland, Denise (12 September 2013). "Is this the world's first medically-approved 'cigarette'?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  8. "Nicotine inhaler is first device of its kind to be licensed as". The Independent. 2014-09-12. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  9. "Smokers Offered Fresh Hope With the UK Launch of VOKE". StreetInsider.com.
  10. "New nicotine inhaler available for GPs to prescribe | GPonline". www.gponline.com.
  11. "Kind Consumer Website (2013) - History". Archived from the original on 2013-05-06. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
  12. Woodford Patient Capital Trust Website Archived 2015-09-26 at the Wayback Machine (2015) Patient Capital Trust update, July 2015
  13. Express newspaper (2011) - Sir Terry Leahy’s nicotine fix
  14. The Independent newspaper(2011) - Leahy invests in 'safe' tobacco (after Tesco made a killing on cigarettes)
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