Background

In a 1970 memo on cannabis, George Weissman, President of Philip Morris wrote: “While I am opposed to its use, I recognize that it may be legalized in the near future[…] Thus, with these great auspices, we should be in a position to examine: 1. A potential competition, 2. A possible product, 3. At this time, cooperate with the government.”²   

Cannabis legalisation and decriminalisation has become more prevalent in recent years.³ In the US, where recreational cannabis is now legal in 11 states,⁴ tobacco companies have leant their support to pro-cannabis groups lobbying for legalisation.⁵

With falling cigarette sales in developed markets, and the relaxation of cannabis laws, there is an increased “legal demand” for cannabis products.⁶ This is an opportunity for tobacco companies to invest in a market worth an estimated US$200 billion worldwide (Euromonitor data).⁷ There are several reasons for tobacco companies’ interest: the functional similarities of cannabis production; its use with tobacco in roll-your-own (RYO) cigarettes; the ability to extract its active ingredients (tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD)) for use in e-cigarettes; and its medicinal potential.⁸ The tobacco industry is keen to promote its associations with harm reduction and pharmaceuticals over conventional cigarettes and cannabis offers an opportunity to do so.

As cannabis moves from a model of prohibition to one of legal regulation and as tobacco companies invest in the sector, the industry may start to mirror the tactics of Big Tobacco, including “pushing governments to crack down on smaller competitors, funding research which fits their own commercial and reputational interests, or exploiting traditional cannabis growers in lower-income countries, and lobbying against public-health oriented regulations and in favour of more industry-friendly ones.”⁹, according to illict trade expert Benoit Gomis.

Transnational Tobacco Company Investments in Cannabis

Philip Morris International

In 2016, PMI invested US$20 million in Syqe Medical, an Israeli company developing a medical cannabis inhaler. This was the second largest cannabis investment in 2016.¹⁰ PMI has not publicly spoken about the investment.

Altria

In December 2017, Altria made an investment of US$1.8 billion for 45% of Cronos Group, a Canadian cannabis company.¹¹ In its 2020 “10 Year Vision”, Altria said it wants to “Help position Cronos as a leader in a highly responsible, regulated and legalized U.S. cannabis market.”¹² However, in November 2019 Altria declared its investment had reduced in value by US$731 million, because of the complicated regulatory procedures surrounding cannabis products.¹³

Imperial Brands

In April 2018 Imperial invested in Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies (OCT) which describes itself as managing “a wide-ranging research program that investigates the medical potential of cannabinoids across different therapeutic areas.”¹⁴ OCT is licensed by the Home Office.

Matthew Phillips, Chief Development Officer at Imperial, said: “We are pleased to be partnering with OCT. Cannabinoid products have significant potential and our investment enables Imperial to support OCT’s important research while building a deeper understanding of the medical cannabis market.”¹⁵¹⁶ In an interview in April 2019, Imperial’s then Chief Executive Officer Alison Cooper refused to disclose the amount invested in OCT but said that it was an “interesting area to look at”.¹⁷ 

In 2019, Imperial increased its stake in the cannabis market, investing GB£75 million in Auxly, a Canadian “global leader in branded cannabis products”.¹⁸ Imperial described the move as an expansion of its “next generation product” portfolio.¹⁹

In September 2019, a “partnership agreement” was finalised between Imperial and Canadian cannabis producer Auxly Cannabis Group.²⁰²¹ As part of the deal, Imperial paid GB£85 million to acquire 19.9% stake in Auxly. Imperial will also give Auxly “worldwide licences for its vaporization technology” and access to its subsidiary Nerudia.²⁰ Auxly has also become “an exclusive partner for Imperial’s cannabis-related business activities”.²⁰ It is unclear whether this arrangement precludes Imperial from making further partnership deals with cannabis companies.

British American Tobacco

In February 2020, BAT announced that they were researching CBD and THC flavourings for its Vype and Vuse e-cigarettes at its research facility in Southampton, but not “actively pursuing” these flavours for sale.²² However, in January 2021, BAT began test-marketing a range of CBD products called the “VUSE CBD Zone” in Manchester, UK, saying this was part of its efforts to go “beyond nicotine”. BAT referred to a potential nationwide roll-out of VUSE CBD Zone later on in 2021.²³

Via BTomorrow Ventures, set up in 2020, BAT invested in start-ups working on cannabis, CBD and other “wellness” products.²⁴ As of November 2022, the dedicated website listed the following cannabis related companies in its portfolio:²⁵

• Trait Biosciences – “Innovative Science advancing cannabinoid production technology”.²⁵²⁶²⁷
• Cannopeaia – “Proprietary cannabis vaping technology”.²⁵²⁸
• Unrooted – “Functional beverages boosted by African baobab”.²⁵ Unrooted’s website stated that it used CBD in one of its products.²⁹
• Open Book Extracts – “Cannabinoid innovation house”.²⁵ Open Book Extracts’ website states that it has the “Broadest cannabinoid portfolio in the market”.³⁰

In March 2021, BAT bought a 20% stake in OrganiGram, a Canadian cannabis producer with plans to produce “next-generation” CBD based cannabis products. The C$221 million investment includes an agreement to build an R&D Center of Excellence in New Brunswick.³¹³²

In September 2022, BAT acquired a non-controlling minority stake in the German cannabis company Sanity Group.³³ BAT said that this added “a European dimension to one of the many BAT explorations beyond nicotine”.³³ Sanity Group’s portfolio includes CBD products and medical cannabis.³³ On 27 September Sanity Group announced that its latest funding round was “led by BAT Group.”³⁴

In November 2022, BAT invested GB£48.2 million in a nearly 20% share of Charlotte’s Web, a cannabinoid extract retailer.³⁵BAT said that the appeal of the company was that it had “a wide portfolio of high-quality products, strong brand equity, an extensive retail presence and robust B2C e-commerce platform serving a loyal US consumer base, and a track record of in-depth scientific research.”³⁵

For more see British American Tobacco: Btomorrow Ventures and Tobacco Company Investments in Pharmaceutical & NRT Products.

Tobacco staff migration

Several tobacco company employees and people associated with the tobacco industry have been taking roles in the growing cannabis industry. 

• In 2020, Boldt Runners Corp., seller of Cannadips CBD pouches (similar to snus-style nicotine pouches), appointed former Altria executives Peter Diatelevi and Maura Scott as CEO³⁶ and CSO respectively.³⁷
• Taat Lifestyle and Wellness, producer of the ‘Beyond Tobacco’ hemp cigarette (not yet launched as of October 2020), appointed former PMI commercialization executive Tim Corkum as Chief Revenue Officer in 2020.³⁸
• PharmaCielo, a Canadian cannabis oil company with operations in Colombia, has a number of tobacco industry executives, and industry-linked scientists, on its Board of Directors. These include:
  • Simon Langelier – Chair of the PharmaCielo Board. Langelier joined PharmaCielo in 2015 after a 30 year career with PMI.³⁹ In 2017, he also became a Non-Executive Director at Imperial Tobacco.⁴⁰
  • Matteo Pellegrini – joined PharmaCielo in April 2017 .⁴¹ From 2003 to 2015 Pellegrini was PMI’s President of Asia where he led PMI’s Asian expansion.⁴²
  • Delon Human – joined PharmaCielo in November 2016 as Vice Chair of PharmaCielo’s Board.⁴³
  • Riccardo Polosa – Medical and Scientific Advisory Board (MSAB). Polosa has previously received funding from PMI, worked as a contractor for BAT and founded the Centre of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), a grantee of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World.⁴⁴

     

Relevant Links

• Syqe Medical
• Cronos
• Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies
• Pharmacielo

TobaccoTactics Resources

• Philip Morris International
• Altria
• Imperial Brands
• British American Tobacco
• Newer Nicotine and Tobacco Products

References

The post Cannabis appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

Background

Polosa is the Director of the Institute of Internal and Emergency Medicine and the School of Specialization in Rheumatology of the University of Catania in Italy. In March 2018 he founded the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), an interdepartmental Research Centre within the University of Catania.⁴⁶⁴⁷ This has received significant funding from a tobacco-industry front group, the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (see below for more).

Polosa works in the field of clinical bronchoprovocation (airway-challenge studies) and has authored more than 300 peer reviewed articles mainly covering respiratory medicine, clinical immunology, and tobacco addiction.⁴⁸ In 2014 a fellow researcher dubbed Polosa the “most prolific” academic author in the field of e-cigarettes.

After many years as President of the Italian Anti-Smoking League, LIAF (Lega Italiana Anti Fumo), Polosa now serves as LIAF’s Chief Scientific Advisor.⁴⁹ He is also a Special Scientific Advisor to the International Network of Nicotine Consumer Organizations (INNCO).⁵⁰ The INNCO was formed in 2016 and represents organisations promoting newer nicotine and tobacco products such as e-cigarettes (also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems, or ENDS), heated tobacco products and snus. It describes itself as “the collective voice for the most influential nicotine consumer organisations in twenty seven nicotine consumer organisations in twenty five countries across five continents who each recognise that there are safer ways to enjoy nicotine consumption than tobacco smoking”.⁵¹ In November 2018 INNCO was granted $100,300 from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World to strengthen “nicotine consumer organizations”.

Moreover, since 2019 Polosa has served on the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board (MSAB) of PharmaCielo, a Canadian company which manufactures and sells medicinal grade cannabis oil.⁵² The MSAB is led by Delon Human.

According to a statement from Polosa written in 2020, he serves pro bono as the Chair of the European Technical Committee for standardization on Requirements and test methods for emissions of electronic cigarettes (CEN/TC 437; WG4).⁵³

In December 2023 The Times newspaper published an article that described how Riccardo Polosa’s research was used to help promote e-cigarettes in the UK.⁵⁴

Direct and Indirect Relationships with the Tobacco Industry

Research Funded by Juul Labs, Inc. (2020)

In October, 2020 Polosa was listed as the scientific director on a paper disseminated on the pre-print platform medrxiv. The paper (a pre-print i.e. an unpublished, non-peer-reviewed research article) detailed the research protocol for a multicentre trial – the GENESIS trial – investigating the effects of switching to different e-cigarettes in smokers with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.⁵⁵ The research declared it was ‘supported by an Investigator-Initiated Study award by JUUL Labs Inc. (Juul Science Programme)’.

The trial was registered on the clinicaltrials.gov website in June 2020 and is estimated to run until June 2022.⁵⁶

CoEHAR Funded by Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (2018-2021)

Between 2018 and 2019, Polosa’s CoEHAR was given grants totalling $8,242,298 from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World (FSFW), an ostensibly independent scientific organisation aimed at ‘accelerating the end of smoking’ which is solely funded by Philip Morris International (PMI). According to FSFW’s 2019 tax return, it has also approved another $22,928,186 in grant funds for CoEHAR.⁵⁷

FSFW plans to fund CoEHAR until at least March 2024, according to its website.⁵⁸

Consulted for British American Tobacco (2018)

After giving oral evidence at the UK Parliamentary Science and Technology Committee hearing into e-cigarettes on 9 January 2018, Polosa wrote a letter to the Committee dated February 2018.⁵⁹ In this letter Polosa confirmed that he was working for Swiss-based consultancy firm Health Diplomats, a company founded by Delon Human and which he described as providing “…harm minimisation solutions to the alcohol, food & beverage, pharmaceutical, tobacco and nicotine industries”.⁶⁰ In particular, Polosa said he was the “Medical Contact” in “3 BAT-funded clinical trials in respect of its e-cigarette and tobacco heating devices and their potential for harm reduction”. He described his role as helping “with the design of the clinical research protocol, to provide guidance on any medial and safety issues related to study participants, and to oversee with the analysis and interpretation of clinical trial data and the reporting of clinical trial results”.

While Polosa has declared this previous funding from Health Diplomats in conflict of interest statements of research papers, he often does not declare that this work involved the above research assistance to BAT.⁶¹⁶²⁶³

Harm Reduction Research Funded by Philip Morris International (2017/18)

In 2017 Polosa was awarded €968,708.00 from Philip Morris Products SA, a subsidiary of Philip Morris International (PMI) for “A 12-weeks open label, non-inferiority trial comparing HnB not Burn products vs ECs e-cigarettes in terms of efficacy and adoption rates, acceptability, tolerability, and tobacco harm reduction in healthy smokers, not motivated to quit”.⁶⁴⁶⁵

The trial was originally scheduled to commence on 20 December 2017, but records from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, which houses a clinical trials registry, show that its actual estimated start date was 18 July 2018 with an expected completion date of 18 July 2019.⁶⁶ Records show that the actual study start date was 25 May 2019 and the actual completion date was 25 May 2020.⁶⁷ In March 2018 PMI consented to a request to change the study’s Principal Investigator from Polosa to Dr Enrico Mondati, Polosa’s departmental colleague at the University of Catania and fellow member of CoEHAR’s Founders Council.⁶⁸

In January 2020, Polosa was listed as author on a research paper which outlined the study protocol for the above clinical trial.  The authors declare the research was ‘supported by an Investigator-Initiated Study award by Philip Morris Products SA’. The paper states Polosa was one of the authors ‘responsible for designing the study protocol’.⁶⁹

Collaborated with Tobacco Industry Scientists (2017/18)

In September 2017, Polosa took part in a symposium titled “Approaches for the assessment of next generation products” at the 53rd Congress of the European Societies of Toxicology (‘EuroTox 2017’) held in Slovakia.⁷⁰

Polosa presented on “Tobacco harm reduction and e-cigarettes” and fellow symposium presenters included tobacco industry representatives Manuel Peitsch (PMI’s Chief Science Officer), Chris Proctor (BAT’s Chief Science Officer), and Thord Hassler (Vice President Research and Development Swedish Match). In a paper published in May 2018, first author Peitsch and co-authors Polosa and others summarised the symposium presentations and further promoted the use of newer products in a tobacco harm reduction approach to health regulation.⁷¹ The article explicitly states that “Riccardo Polosa’s research in harm reduction has not been supported by the tobacco industry”. Yet, as we have seen above, only months prior to publication, Polosa was awarded close to €1 million by PMI for a 12 week trial to assess heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes.

Research Funded by Philip Morris USA (2003-2005)

In April 2004, a LIAF press release announced that its President, Polosa, and Philip Morris USA (PM) were to jointly develop a research project on nicotine addiction. Internal tobacco industry documents show that Polosa applied to PM’s External Research Program in August 2002, requesting US$ 281,080 for a research study titled “Cigarette smoke and endothelial/platelet activation: Evaluation of prothrombotic markers during smoke cessation”.⁷² The budget was to cover 20% of Polosa’s time as the study’s Principal Investigator, amounting to US$ 19,900 over two years, and would further fund one research technician post and co-fund a fellowship (see Image 1).

The PM grant ran from 1 May 2003 to 30 April 2005,⁷³ and a signed agreement between PM and the University of Catania confirms Polosa’s key role in the project, deeming his services as “essential to the research being performed”.⁷⁴

Another internal PM document suggests the company eventually awarded Polosa and his team a total of US$ 316,060; US$ 189,575 in the first year, and US$ 125,485 in the second.⁷⁵ Under the terms of the agreement, Polosa and colleagues were required to acknowledge PM funding in all papers published resulting from this work.

Invited Speaker at Events

In 2015, 2017 and 2018 Polosa was an invited speaker at the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum, an annual tobacco industry event previously known as the Global Tobacco Networking Forum.⁷⁶⁷⁷⁷⁸ See also the following pages:

• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2018
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2017
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2015

In 2020 and 2019, Polosa was an invited speaker at the Global Forum on Nicotine, an event which has provided a platform for the tobacco industry and others to promote tobacco harm reduction.⁷⁹⁸⁰

Conflict of Interests: Lack of Transparency

Polosa’s conflict of interest statements have been inconsistent, and in general he has been more transparent about his links with the e-cigarette and pharmaceutical industries, than about his links with the tobacco industry.

In a letter to the UK parliament in February 2018, while disclosing his links to the e-cigarette company Arbi Group Srl, the UK Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association (ECITA), and “BAT subsidiaries” as well as the 2003 funding from Philip Morris US, Polosa did not mention that he was, at the time, principal investigator of a large PMI-funded study.
In 2015, Polosa lobbied the Australian government on the topic of tobacco harm reduction without disclosing any conflicts of interest.⁸¹

In peer-reviewed publications on tobacco harm reduction, Polosa has frequently disclosed research funding from a range of pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Boehringer-Ingelheim, as well as financial contributions from e-liquid manufacturers. However, while his Philip Morris funding is acknowledged in the publications which originated directly from Philip Morris-funded research,⁸²⁸³ Polosa’s subsequent publications on the topic of tobacco harm reduction fail to declare this.^{84858687888990919293}

Further, in publications where Polosa does list CoEHAR as an affiliation, often no mention is made of CoEHAR’s links to FSFW, nor FSFW’s links to PMI in conflicts of interest statements.^94959697

In his role as a speaker at the 2015, 2016, and 2017 E-cigarette Summit, Polosa declared funding from pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, and that he served as a consultant for Pfizer and Arbi Group Srl , the distributor of Categoria e-cigarettes. He did not declare his funding from Philip Morris.⁹⁸⁹⁹

Tobacco Tactics Links

• CoEHAR
• Philip Morris International
• Foundation for a Smoke-Free World
• Foundation for a Smoke-Free World Grantees
• Foundation for a Smoke-Free World Centres of Excellence
• E-Cigarettes: Mixing Research and Marketing
• Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum
• Polosa has also been a speaker at the Global Forum on Nicotine

References

The post Riccardo Polosa appeared first on TobaccoTactics.

As the harms from conventional products have become better understood, and tobacco control measures have been put in place, the cigarette market – from which tobacco companies make most of their profits – has started to shrink. To secure the industry’s longer-term future, TTCs have invested in, developed and marketed various newer products, including in low and middle-income countries.¹⁰⁰ They are often publicly linked to tobacco companies’ harm reduction strategies and labelled ‘reduced risk’ or ‘modified risk’ products.

There is ongoing scientific and policy debate about the role of these products in tobacco control, with concerns around long term health effects, marketing to youth, and how this diversification may help the industry to build credibility and influence  policy makers.¹⁰⁰¹⁰¹

It is important to note that, despite increasing investment in these products, the core of the global tobacco industry’s business remains unchanged. Newer products form a small proportion of their revenue, compared to conventional products, and will do so for the foreseeable future.

Imperial Brands was previously known as Imperial Tobacco, and for simplicity is referred to below as Imperial.

Background

Imperial, like other tobacco companies, has been investing in tobacco and nicotine products that, unlike cigarettes, show potential for volume growth in developed markets.¹⁰² It has referred to the need for “new consumer experiences”,¹⁰³ and the business opportunity of “consumer adjacencies”.¹⁰⁴

Imperial uses the terms Next Generation Products (NGPs) and “potentially harm reduced products”,¹⁰⁵¹⁰⁶ and includes snus, nicotine pouches, e-cigarettes, and heated tobacco products (HTPs) in this category.

In 2018, Imperial underlined the importance of these products to the company’s future:

“We view NGP as a significant additive growth opportunity for Imperial, due to the size of our global cigarette market share.”¹⁰⁷

However, in 2019, Imperial issued a profit warning, and under pressure from shareholders, a leadership change followed.¹⁰⁸ Following the appointment of new CEO Stefan Bomhard in July 2020, Imperial released a new five-year business strategy which scaled back the company’s plans to invest in newer products in favour of conventional cigarettes.¹⁰⁹¹¹⁰

Imperial continues to use the industry-favoured term “Next Generation Products” as well as describing them as “potentially reduced harm products” on its website.^111112113114Despite its “transformation” narrative, it presents all its products – conventional cigarettes, rolling tobacco and newer products – on a page titled “brands of choice”.¹⁰⁶

When speaking to investors Imperial has long also used terms like “new consumer experiences”¹⁰³ and “consumer adjacencies” when referring to newer products, highlighting its motivation to capture a new consumer market.¹⁰⁴

Imperial presents itself as a “nimble challenger” in the market.¹¹³¹¹⁴ However its newer products are yet to make a profit.¹¹⁵

• For more information on industry terms used to describe newer products, see the Product Terminology.

Snus

In 2005 Imperial invested in a Swedish smokeless tobacco product called snus.

Although the company continues to have snus interests, the focus of its newer product investments switched to e-cigarettes in late 2012. In 2020, Imperial indicated it would stop expanding its market in snus.¹⁰⁹ However it also now sells snus-style nicotine pouches, which do not contain tobacco leaf.

• For more information see Cigarette Companies Investing in Snus and Nicotine Pouches

E-cigarettes

In December 2012, Imperial set up a wholly owned Dutch subsidiary called Fontem Ventures to develop “non-tobacco consumer experiences”, notably e-cigarettes.¹¹⁶¹¹⁷ In November 2017, the tobacco company also acquired UK-based nicotine liquids maker Nerudia.¹¹⁸

Imperial initially sold multiple e-cigarette brands, but from 2016 its strategy has focused on growing the blu brand.¹¹⁹

• For detailed information see E-cigarettes: Imperial Brands.

Heated Tobacco Products

Unlike its competitors, Imperial has shown little appetite to develop and market heated tobacco products (HTPs).¹²⁰¹²¹ Whereas Philip Morris International (PMI) and British American Tobacco have stressed the ‘reduced risk’ potential of HTPs,¹²²¹²³ Imperial has publicly challenged the HTP reduced risk claim, asserting that “there’s no difference really between those products and traditional tobacco products” and “It’s probably better described generically as ‘heat and burn’ rather than ‘heat not burn'”.¹²¹

In 2015 Imperial scientists published a study in the Environmental Analytical Chemistry journal that concluded that PMI’s IQOS released tobacco-containing side stream emissions, and recommended that HTPs should be covered by smoke-free legislation.¹²⁴

Market analysts and investors have criticised Imperial for not venturing into the HTP category.¹²⁵Perhaps bowing to shareholder pressure, Imperial’s chairman announced in February 2018 that the company had “multiple formats under development”, and that it had trialled them in Europe and Japan.¹²⁶¹²⁷ In May 2018, the company further reported that it was “progressing optionality in heated tobacco, with second stage consumer trials planned in the next few months”.¹²⁸

In April 2019 Imperial announced that it would start selling its HTP device, called Pulze, from May 6 in the city of Fukuoka in Japan.¹²⁹ (PMI and Japan Tobacco products dominate the Japanese HTP market, where e-cigarettes containing nicotine are banned. For details see Heated Tobacco Products. By then, Imperial’s public stance on the harm reduction potential of HTPs changed, stating that heated tobacco “releases nicotine and other tobacco emissions at substantially lower levels than cigarettes”.¹⁰⁷ It characterised Pulze as a “potentially harm reduced alternative”.¹³⁰

In 2021, Imperial launched Pulze in Europe, trialling it in the Czech Republic and Greece in 2021 and launching it in Italy, Portugal and Hungary the following year.^131132133 In 2023 it released an updated version, Pulze 2.0, in the same European markets.¹³⁴ Its iD heat sticks went on sale in four flavours: “Rich Bronze, Balanced Blue, Capsule Polar, and Ice”.¹³²

Investment in Cannabis

Since 2018, Imperial has also developed interests in medicinal cannabis. Find out more on the Cannabis page.

TobaccoTactics Resources

• Imperial Brands
• Fontem Ventures
• E-cigarettes: Imperial Brands
• Heated Tobacco Products
• Cigarette Companies Investing in Snus
• Nicotine Pouches
• Newer Nicotine and Tobacco Products
• Harm Reduction
• Cannabis
• Industry Approaches to Science on Newer Products

Relevant links

• Imperial Brands website

TCRG Research

• Transnational tobacco company interests in smokeless tobacco in Europe: Analysis of internal industry documents and contemporary industry materials, S. Peeters, A. Gilmore, PLoS Medicine, 2013,10(9):1001506

For a comprehensive list of all TCRG publications, including TCRG research that evaluates the impact of public health policy, go to the Bath TCRG’s list of publications.

References

The post Newer Nicotine and Tobacco Products: Imperial Brands appeared first on TobaccoTactics.