Altria Asks FDA to Delay Regulatory Deadline Due to Coronavirus

Altria Group Inc. sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration Wednesday asking that a crucial regulatory deadline for some tobacco products be pushed back by eight weeks due to complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Currently, companies must apply to the FDA by May 12 for authorization to keep selling certain tobacco products. Regulators, public-health groups and companies fought over the timing for years before settling on that date last year in federal court. The deadline applies to products such as e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches.

In the letter, which was reviewed by Bloomberg News, Altria asked that the ...