Tag: Philip Morris

  • Foundation for a Smoke-Free World Severs Nicotine Ties

    Foundation for a Smoke-Free World Severs Nicotine Ties

    Credit: Akeeris

    The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, which was originally funded by Philip Morris International (PMI), announced that it would no longer accept any monetary support from the nicotine industry to gain the trust of tobacco control groups.

    PMI had pledged to give tens of millions of dollars each year to keep the foundation afloat between 2022 and 2029. In September, they provided a final grant of $122.5 million, equivalent to around three and a half years of their original commitment.

    The foundation will now rebrand and find new funders from outside of the industry, Cliff Douglas said in an interview with Reuters.

    Douglas, a long-time tobacco control advocate who joined the foundation in October, said he wants to see it re-established as a credible actor in ending smoking.

    “Any skepticism around our independence can be laid to rest,” he said.

    Douglas pointed to several tobacco control advocates who have sounded positive about the foundation’s new direction. However, other groups remained skeptical about whether it can reset its image.

  • Philip Morris Opens Flagship IQOS Store in South Africa

    Philip Morris Opens Flagship IQOS Store in South Africa

    Credit: Arkadiusz Fajer

    Philip Morris South Africa (PMSA) announced the opening of its new flagship boutique IQOS store in Canal Walk, Cape Town, South Africa, five years after the smoke-free brand was introduced to the local market.

    “Our significant continued investment into stores like the Canal Walk site, reinforces our commitment to achieving a smoke-free South Africa, with a product that is a much better choice for adults than continued smoking,” said Branislav Bibic, managing director of PMSA. “It’s a commitment like this that is in line with PMI’s full-scale global effort to offer adult smokers better alternatives that can ultimately replace cigarettes.”

    The company has openly committed to a move away from the cigarette business and continues to expand its IQOS portfolio of electronic tobacco devices designed to heat rather than burn tobacco, and the brand’s retail footprint, according to Biz Community.

    IQOS heats specially-created tobacco sticks, called Heets, at a controlled temperature, avoiding combustion and “producing an aerosol that emits on average 95 percent lower levels of harmful chemicals than an ordinary cigarette”, according to the company.

    While the device provides a nicotine fix and tobacco-taste satisfaction for smokers, Iqos does not produce smoke, ash or a cigarette smell.

    Since 2008, the Marlboro and Chesterfield maker has invested over $9 billion in scientific research, product- and commercial development, and in production capacity to drive the continuous innovation of smoke-free products.

  • PMI Earns Wins Over Reynolds in HnB Patents Lawsuit

    PMI Earns Wins Over Reynolds in HnB Patents Lawsuit

    A Philip Morris International Inc. affiliate has earned two federal patent victories involving its heat-not-burn (HnB) technology dispute with Reynolds American Inc (RAI). A three-judge panel of the federal Patent Trial and Appeal Board said Wednesday it had determined as unpatentable all RAI Strategic Holdings Inc. claims for the “915” patent and claims 1 through 12 and 18 through 30 for the “542” patent.

    Credit: Bill Oxford

    The “915” patent “relates to smoking articles that employ an electrical heating element and an electrical power source to provide an inhalable substance in a vapor or aerosol form, without substantially burning or completely burning tobacco or other substances,” according to JournalNow.

    Meanwhile, the “542” patent “is directed to articles wherein tobacco, a tobacco derived material or other material is heated, preferably without significant combustion, to provide an inhalable substance … in a vapor or aerosol form.” The “542” patent is designed to create improvements and alternatives to “provide the sensations associated with cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoking, without delivering considerable quantities of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis products.”

    In both cases, the decisions are the final word from the board. However, those decisions can be appealed for review to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which RAI has indicated it will pursue. According to federal law, a claim is unpatentable if “the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains.”