FDA authorizes Zyn nicotine pouches, citing public health benefits for adult smokers, despite concerns over flavored products' appeal to teens.

The agency finds Zyn’s benefit as a safer alternative for adult cigarette smokers outweighs its risk to young people.

Federal health officials on Thursday backed the public health benefits of nicotine pouches, authorizing Philip Morris International’s Zyn to help adult smokers cut back or quit cigarettes.

The FDA authorized the marketing of 20 different Zyn nicotine pouch products -- the first brand to clear this regulatory hurdle in the increasingly popular class of single-use sachets of flavored nicotine designed to be placed between the lip and gums, which have been available for more than a decade.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved the marketing of 20 Zyn products to adults, the first time it has authorized nicotine pouches.

The FDA authorized the marketing of 20 Zyn products on Thursday, marking the first allowance for the fast-growing nicotine pouches.

Zyn and the retailers who sell the product have run afoul of regulators in recent years. The FDA in April of last year warned 119 retailers to stop selling Zyn to underage people, and the company was ordered to pay $1.2 million last year for violating Washington, D.C.’s smokeless tobacco ban.

The FDA said "an extensive scientific review" found the products were found to pose lower risks of cancer and other serious health conditions compared to cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.

Zyn products will be allowed to stay on the market after federal health officials Thursday said the popular nicotine pouches can help adult smokers cut back or switch completely. The Food

Little pouches of nicotine sold by the brand ZYN were given the green light for marketing this week through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway.