Switching from usual brand cigarettes to a tobacco-heating cigarette or snus: Part 3. Biomarkers of biological effect.

A randomized, multi-center study of adult cigarette smokers switched to tobacco-heating cigarettes, snus or ultra-low machine yield tobacco-burning cigarettes (50/group) for 24 weeks was conducted. Evaluation of biomarkers of biological effect (e.g. inflammation, lipids, hypercoaguable state) indicated that the majority of consistent and statistically significant improvements over time within each group were observed in markers of inflammation. Consistent and statistically significant differences in pairwise comparisons between product groups were not observed. These findings are relevant to the understanding of biomarkers of biological effect related to cigarette smoking as well as the risk continuum across various tobacco products (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02061917).