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OpenTrials
Enrolling by Invitation

NCT Number: NCT06988371

Responses of Adults Smoking Nondaily and Daily in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace

The goal of this project is to learn about the potential impact of tobacco regulations that could affect the availability of tobacco products among adults who smoke nondaily and daily. Nondaily smoking is increasingly common and tobacco regulation research should consider how FDA actions may impact this group. Participants will be asked to complete online surveys and tests, online shopping sessions in a simulated Experimental Tobacco Marketplace. Reactions and decisions of adults who smoke nondaily and daily will be compared.

Enrolling by Invitation

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Key information

Conditions

Tobacco Use Behavior Cigarette Use

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky, 40504, United States

About this study

After granting informed consent, participants will complete the single assessment.

First, investigators will collect information from participants on personal characteristics, substance use patterns and addiction severity, and behavioral and cognitive tasks that measure components of our behavioral economic model of product valuation.

Experimental Tobacco Marketplace. In this procedure, participants will complete purchasing scenarios in a realistic tobacco/nicotine product marketplace to model and examine the impact of each of the proposed tobacco product regulations. Participants will be seated in front of a computer to access a simulated online tobacco marketplace with an interface similar to many online merchants. This will allow participants to browse through the selection of tobacco products and add as many as they desire of each product to the virtual shopping cart. Each product will have the price clearly displayed along with an image and description of the product. The selection of products will vary based on the particular regulatory scenario that is being modeled. In each pricing scenario during each marketplace session, participants will be asked to make nicotine-product purchases sufficient for one week's use from this marketplace. During a purchasing session, the participant will be provided with a virtual budget that matches their actual weekly budget for nicotine/tobacco products, a procedure our team has shown to generate realistic results. Participants will use that virtual budget to indicate which selection of products they would purchase from those available in the marketplace.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • At least 18 years old
  • Consume cigarettes 4-30 days per month
  • Have no plans to quit nicotine/tobacco products
  • Read and understand English

Exclusion criteria

Treatment and study plan

Reduced nicotine regulatory environment

Behavioral

In this regulatory environment, participants' usual combustible cigarette will not be available in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace and reduced nicotine content cigarettes will be the only available combustible cigarette.

Restriction on characterizing flavors in combustible nicotine products

Behavioral

In this regulatory environment, menthol and other characterizing flavors in combustible nicotine products will not be available in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace. Tobacco- or no-flavored combustible nicotine products will be the only combustible nicotine products available.

Restriction on characterizing flavors in noncombustible nicotine products

Behavioral

In this regulatory environment, menthol and other characterizing flavors in noncombustible nicotine products will not be available in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace. Tobacco- or no-flavored noncombustible nicotine products will be the only noncombustible nicotine products available.

Primary outcomes

  1. Aggregate behavioral economic demand across all participants under the proposed regulatory environments

    Time frame: Baseline

    Participants will complete trials of the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace wherein the price of a target commodity will be increased. Nonlinear mixed effects modeling will be used to fit a curve to estimate the number of products purchased at each price and the analysis will result in an measure of overall price sensitivity under each of the regulatory conditions.

  2. Aggregate behavioral economic substitution across all participants under the proposed regulatory environments

    Time frame: Baseline

    Participants will complete trials of the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace wherein the price of alternative products will be fixed across trials and their usual product will change price. Mixed effects modeling will be used to fit a curve to estimate the slopes and intercepts of these alternative products, revealing the degree to which participants will choose to purchase each alternative product as the price of the participant's usual product increases.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Hypothetical quantity purchased in purchase tasks

    Time frame: Baseline

    Measures valuation by assessing hypothetical consumption across a price range and across the range of products used by participants in the past 60 days.

  2. Delay Discounting Tasks

    Time frame: Baseline

    Assesses valuation for future money and nicotine products.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Bethany Shorey Fennell, PhD

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2025
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
May 23, 2025
Registry last updated
Jul 27, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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