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Azim Chowdhury

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Azim Chowdhury is a regulatory and public policy attorney with a focus on vapor, nicotine and tobacco product regulation. He is a Partner in Keller and Heckman’s nationally-ranked food and drug law practice.

Mr. Chowdhury advises domestic and foreign corporations in matters of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and international regulatory compliance. In particular, he has developed expertise in tobacco and vapor product regulation relating to the implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, and spearheaded the Tobacco and E-Vapor practice at Keller and Heckman. Specifically, Mr. Chowdhury has experience representing tobacco, e-cigarette and e-liquid manufacturers, distributors, retailers, suppliers and trade associations in matters of FDA, state and global regulatory compliance. He also assists corporations in establishing clearances for food and drug additives in the U.S., Canada, and European Union, with an emphasis on indirect additives used in food-contact materials.

Mr. Chowdhury has authored and edited numerous articles and publications, including Tobacco Regulation and Compliance: An Essential Resource, FDA Regulation of Tobacco: A Comprehensive Guide – An FDLI Primer and Tobacco and Nicotine Delivery: Regulation and Compliance, 2nd Edition. He is a frequent contributor to the Food and Drug Law Institute's (FDLI) Update Magazine and has served on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Food and Drug Law Journal.  In addition, he has been interviewed in the U.S. News and World Reports Best Lawyers Edition (2016) and was named one of “10 Names to Know in the Vape World” in the October 2015 issue of Vape Magazine. Mr. Chowdhury received the 2018 National Law Review Go-To Thought Leadership Award for his consistent coverage of the emerging issues surrounding vaping and e-cigarettes on Keller and Heckman’s law blog, The Continuum of Risk.  As an industry leader, Mr. Chowdhury frequently speaks at industry conferences and events.

Mr. Chowdhury also has an active pro bono practice through Keller and Heckman’s Pro Bono Program, and has been featured in the Baltimore Sun for successfully obtaining asylum in the United States for a family who fled their home country of El Salvador because of violence they faced from an international gang.

Prior to entering private practice, he served as a judicial law clerk on the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland. Mr. Chowdhury received a B.A. and B.S. from Johns Hopkins University, a MBA from the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business, and a JD, cum laude, from the University of Maryland School of Law.

Education: Johns Hopkins University (B.A., B.S., 2003); University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business (M.B.A., 2006); University of Maryland School of Law (J.D., 2006, cum laude).

Admissions: District of Columbia; Maryland

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Electronic cigarette and e-liquid (collectively “e-vapor”) manufacturers are increasingly the targets of California Proposition 65 enforcement actions brought by private plaintiffs.  Of the 168 private enforcement actions brought against e-vapor manufacturers, 150 of these have been filed since 2016.  We provide background on Proposition 65 below, followed by specifics regarding how the e-vapor industry has…

Azim Chowdhury and Manon Ombredane will attend the Next Generation Nicotine Delivery Conference in London. Azim will present “Determining the Impact of the FDA’s Stance on Nicotine Containing Products.” Manon will participate on the panel “Roundtable Discussing The Variance of TPD Implementation in Different EU Member States.” The conference will take place November 14-15. 2017.…

Azim Chowdhury and Adam Susser will participate in the FDLI Tobacco Products and Regulation and Policy Conference, which will take place October 26-27, 2017 in Washington, DC.

This KH sponsored event will bring together public health advocates, researchers, manufacturers, lawyers, consumer interests, entrepreneurs, governmental agencies and others to effectively regulate the broad spectrum of tobacco…

Just five days before the September 30, 2017 registration deadline for U.S. manufacturing establishments, on Tuesday, September 26, 2017, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, tweeted that due to “website connectivity problems” with the FDA Unified Registration and Listing System (FURLS), FDA would be “implementing a short term extension

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Just two weeks before the September 30, 2017 registration deadline for U.S. tobacco product manufacturing establishments, on Friday, September 15, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a Revised Guidance for Industry on Registration and Product Listing for Owners and Operators of Domestic Tobacco Product Establishments .See our original Client Alert summarizing the…

On August 30, 2017, the Right to be Smoke-Free (RSF) Coalition, a non-profit, industry-led trade association of vapor businesses dedicated to advocating for reasonable and responsible laws and regulations, joined Nicopure Labs LLC in appealing the recent decision in Nicopure Labs, LLC and Right to be Smoke-Free Coalition et al. v. Food and Drug…

As the e-vapor industry evolves, manufacturers must keep up with an expanding legal and regulatory landscape. In addition to designing their products and services to comply, it is important for e-vapor companies to carefully assess their business practices and relationships with employees and business partners so as to best protect their confidential information and intellectual…

On Friday July 28, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its new “comprehensive regulatory plan to shift trajectory of tobacco-related disease, death” that refocuses the Agency’s implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA) and the Deeming Rule. FDA’s new strategy appears to be moving away from its “one-size-fits-all”…