In a patent case brought by rival R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the US International Trade Commission ruled Wednesday that Altria Group Inc. and Philip Morris International Inc. must halt imports and sales of their IQOS heated tobacco device.

The case has now been referred to administrative review, which is expected to take two months; the decision must be signed by President Biden before it becomes effective. PMI has stated that it intends to appeal the decision.

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IQOS is a cigarette substitute developed by PMI and sold in the United States by Altria, the parent company of Marlboro cigarettes. The product infringes on two patents owned by Reynolds, the maker of Newport cigarettes, according to the ITC.

When users inhale, IQOS does not produce smoke because it does not burn tobacco. It is the only inhalable tobacco product on the market in the United States that has been approved by the FDA to claim in marketing materials that it exposes users to fewer harmful chemicals than cigarettes.

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The product is sold in dozens of countries by PMI. Altria launched IQOS in the United States in 2019 and has only sold it in a few states so far. Because of a pending patent case, Altria halted the rollout earlier this year.

“We are puzzled and concerned by the Commission’s decision,” a PMI spokesman said.

He added that lawsuits based on the same patent families have failed in European courts and the European Patent Office.

Altria said it is working on contingency plans with PMI, a company that was spun off from Altria in 2008, and that it still believes Reynolds’ patents are invalid.

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“Infringement of our intellectual property undermines our ability to invest and innovate and thereby reduce the health impact of our business,” said a spokeswoman for Reynolds, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco PLC as cited by the WSJ.

“We will therefore defend our IP robustly across the globe.”

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