World's second largest tobacco company tells people to quit smoking

Philip Morris made 850 billion cigarettes last year – now it is planning for a smoke-free future

Scientists at tobacco giant, Philip Morris International’s research centre in Switzerland are searching for cigarette substitutes that will sell — but won’t kill.

Researchers are looking beyond popular alternatives like electronic cigarettes, which exploded onto the scene in the late-2000s and made “vape” the Oxford Dictionaries 2014 word of the year. Philip Morris doesn’t even have a word for what comes after “vape”. Its four-pronged strategy starts with something called iQOS, pronounced, EYE-kose.



The iQOS, which some have said is an acronym for “I quit ordinary smoking”, gently heats the tobacco without burning it, producing a warm, nicotine-laced aerosol. iQOS has been a hit in Japan and parts of Europe. After an extensive application process with US health authorities, the product is expected to reach America next year, though without claims that it’s any safer than regular cigarettes. iQOS will have to pass a second hurdle with the Food and Drug Administration before it can be marketed as safer.

After HEETS comes TEEPS, which is a heat-not-burn product that resembles an old-fashioned cigarette. Here again, Philip Morris is relying on tobacco. But instead of lighting up the old way, users ignite a carbon tip that heats the tobacco.



The taste and nicotine intake of iQOS and TEEPS are closer to that of ordinary cigarettes than e-cigarettes, the company says. A third device, STEEM, is a twist on a medical inhaler: It combines nicotine and a weak organic acid to produce nicotine salt, which is absorbed without vapor. A fourth, called MESH, is a more conventional e-cigarette using flavoured nicotine liquid.

So far, Philip Morris has spent more than $3 billion on its post-cigarette push. “These products are not zero-risk,” he warned. Getting iQOS to America’s doorstep also has been a slog. The reduced-risk application to the Food and Drug Administration, expected in by the end of this year, is already more than 2 million pages. The application to get the product on shelves will likely be filed early next year.

“We are aware of the history of the tobacco industry, but our job is to take the sciences they have submitted and objectively evaluate what their data is and how far it goes to addressing the mandatory statutory standards,” said Mitch Zeller, director for the FDA’s Centre for Tobacco Products.



Philip Morris isn’t running this race alone. BAT, Reynolds, Altria Group and Japan Tobacco are all working on a variety of products. “The race is not money, but time,” Andre Calantzopoulos, the chief executive officer of Philip Morris International revealed.

Jacek Olczak, chief financial officer, said iQOS helped him quit regular cigarettes. “I’m extremely happy,” he said. “My company solves my own problem, and I can make money off of it.” Nearly everyone in the industry acknowledges that the road ahead for Big Tobacco will be long. Public health officials, and many ordinary people, are wary of the industry and its intentions. So change won’t be easy. As Calantzopoulos put it: “Decades of history are not going to change in one afternoon.”

This article originally appeared on Independent.