22nd Century Group Names Henry Sicignano III CEO

March 2, 2015

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The Board of Directors of 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE MKT: XXII) announced
today that Henry Sicignano III has been named to the position of Chief
Executive Officer. Mr. Sicignano will continue to serve as the Company’s
President and will remain on the Board of Directors.

“The Board of Directors has had the opportunity to work directly with Henry
over the past few months and is convinced that there is no better person to
lead the company forward,” said James W. Cornell, Chairman of the Board of
Directors. “Henry is a proven leader with outstanding business development
skills, strategic vision and the ability to bring people together. His vision
for how 22nd Century will monetize the Company’s proprietary technologies is
exactly what 22nd Century needs at this exciting stage in the Company’s
growth.”

Since joining the Company as President in 2010, Mr. Sicignano has spearheaded
major initiatives across a range of business areas, recently establishing a
strategic partnership with Smoker Friendly International, the nation’s largest
dealer network of cigarette stores, and securing contract manufacturing and
distribution agreements to launch the Company’s MAGIC® brand of cigarettes in
Europe. Going forward, Mr. Sicignano has defined 22nd Century’s top priorities
as: establishing multi-year international sales contracts for the Company’s
proprietary tobacco products (with immediate focus on Asia); submitting to the
FDA a Modified Risk Application for the Company’s Brand A very low nicotine
cigarettes; and identifying a joint venture partner to fund Phase III clinical
trials for X-22, the Company’s smoking cessation aid in development.

“22nd Century is in the rare position of having a virtual monopoly around the
nicotine biosynthetic pathway in the tobacco plant; I am honored and
tremendously excited to have been chosen to lead the Company as we begin to
commercialize our extraordinary IP portfolio,” Mr. Sicignano said. “As the
tobacco industry begins a true paradigm shift toward the development and
commercialization of reduced-risk tobacco products, 22nd Century is uniquely
positioned to become a key player in both the smoking harm reduction and the
smoking cessation markets. A key part of my job will be to seize these
opportunities by focusing our management team and the Company’s business
development investments on our technology’s most important commercial
applications.”