Sector Expertise
Tobacco Harm Reduction & Reduced Risk Products
Helping people make better choices with safer nicotine products
CDP’s Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) team accelerates reduced-risk nicotine and tobacco product (RRP) development by helping you create products that more people want to use, regulators will approve, and your business can deliver at scale. Our expertise combines science, design, and regulatory insight to bring safer alternatives to market quickly and responsibly.
With almost 20 years of dedicated RRP sector experience, we make a difference to client product innovation
Deep product engineering and consulting experience
We have extensive hands-on experience across both tobacco harm reduction (THR) and reduced risk products (RRP), helping clients move from idea to launch with confidence. We have extensive hands-on experience across both tobacco harm reduction (THR) and reduced risk products (RRP), helping clients move from idea to launch with confidence.
Understanding evolving regulation
We help you navigate complex and changing regulatory frameworks, building compliance into product development from the very start.
Insight into markets and consumers
We know what matters to consumers and how the market is evolving, because we go beyond what traditional consumer research can tell you. That knowledge shapes better products and smarter decisions.
Experience where it counts
Our team brings together expertise from RRP, healthcare, consumer and industrial sectors, giving us a unique approach to this fast-changing market.
One team, all under one roof
Scientists, engineers, designers, and regulatory experts work side-by-side in our Cambridge (UK) and Raleigh (US) facilities, keeping projects moving efficiently and securely.
Supporting clients with services that cover the end-to-end innovation journey:
User-centered insight
Understanding consumer needs and behaviours is where every successful THR and RRP product starts. We combine market knowledge with human-centred research to ensure products are relevant, desirable, and designed for real use.
Ideation and design
Our teams generate and refine concepts that balance consumer appeal, regulatory requirements, and technical feasibility. We design solutions that meet business objectives while delivering safer alternatives that more people will adopt.
Prototyping and product engineering
We turn ideas into working prototypes, stress-tested for performance, safety, and user experience. Our engineering teams solve complex technical challenges and prepare technical platforms and products for scale.
Pilot production and transfer to manufacturing
We bridge the gap between development, pilot production and scale up to manufacturing. With pilot facilities and strong industry partnerships, we help clients move smoothly into manufacturing while maintaining quality and compliance.
We drive successful THR product development through:
Regulatory compliance – ensuring approval and long-term market access.
Consumer desirability – products that meet real needs and fit into people’s lives.
Technical feasibility – proven solutions that can work at scale.
Business viability – a clear path to growth in the right markets.
Who we help
- Support in securing investment and protecting IP
- Established tobacco companies
- Portfolio analysis and data-driven insight
- Sustainability and life-cycle assessments
- Verification and user testing
- Innovation in THP, e-vapour and MON products
- New and emerging businesses
- Technical solutions for novel reduced-risk products
- Cannabinoid and alternative formulation development
- Partnership models for start-ups and spinouts
Get in touch
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Routes to success in the therapeutic cannabinoid market: Insights from the e-cigarette experience
Our involvement in the cannabinoid market has prompted us to reflect on our experiences of working in the tobacco harm reduction (THR) sector which since its inception has grown rapidly. Like THR, the cannabinoid market also operates within an environment of volatile public perceptions, political instability and scrutiny from the regulators.
“We’ve developed several of the world’s most successful THR devices. In doing so we’ve built a level of expertise, from concept generation to transfer to manufacture, that’s simply unrivalled.”
Ben Illidge
Head of Tobacco Harm Reduction