Respira is part of a crop of promising startups coming out of the medical-device industry. The West Hollywood, California-based company has an ultrasonic method that vaporizes tobacco or cannabis, thus avoiding the heating process that can create new carcinogens.

Because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires tobacco companies to report “harmful and potentially harmful constituents,” that should be an advantage from a regulatory standpoint, according to Brian Quigley, co-founder of consulting firm Green Sky Strategy, and an investor and adviser for Respira.

“For science and safety, the whole industry had a wake-up call on VapeGate,” says Quigley, referring to last year’s epidemic of lung illnesses. While the illnesses added fuel to the vaping fire, they were later blamed on additives like vitamin E used in illicit cannabis vaping. U.S. public health officials haven’t definitively connected the outbreak to any one device or e-liquid product.

Mario Danek, who founded Respira in 2018, says he thinks the vape industry is going to be reshaped by devices that work with both cannabis and nicotine—as well as substances from the pharmaceutical world. Respira is working on potential agreements to license its technology in all three categories in 2020.

“Whereas the e-nicotine community started with what would be cool and palatable, and tried to work its way into reduced risk for health and safety, we started with efficacy and safety and then went into pleasure and what the consumer might want,” he says.


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