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APA New Agency interviewed Tommaso Di Giovani, Vice-President of Philip Morris International (PMI) on International Communication and Engagement

– What inspired PMI to commit to a smoke-free future, and how has this vision evolved over time? 

– The best choice for any smoker is to completely quit tobacco and nicotine products. However, most don’t. That is why, at Philip Morris International (PMI), we are committed to offering scientifically substantiated, smoke-free products that are better alternatives to cigarettes to those adults who would otherwise continue to smoke.

It is estimated that there are over 1 billion smokers worldwide, and this number is projected to be roughly the same in the following years. These people deserve a pragmatic approach and a sensible solution that moves them away from cigarettes. Today, this solution exists.  

Since 2008, we have invested 12.5 USD billion to develop, scientifically substantiate, and commercialize innovative smoke-free products, with the goal of completely ending the sale of cigarettes. Smoke-free products are not risk-free and contain nicotine, which is addictive, but represent a much better choice than cigarettes for smokers. 

In 2023, 74% of our commercial efforts and 99% of our R&D expenditure were dedicated to our smoke-free products. We are the only company we know of to have proactively disrupted its own business in a quest for a better future for all. And we are making rapid progress. Our diversified smoke-free portfolio continues to prove the most powerful opportunity to make cigarettes obsolete. 

We remain committed to responding to societal demands for change and are resolute in our mission to deliver a smoke-free future. This ambitious vision asks for a comprehensive transformation of our business model, leveraging cutting-edge technological innovations and rigorous scientific research. By prioritizing innovation and scientific integrity, we are paving the way for a new era.  

– What are the key milestones PMI has achieved so far in its journey towards a smoke-free future? 

– Our transformation journey began a long time ago. Back to 2009, we signified our shift to a science- and technology-driven business by unveiling our new R&D facility in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. In 2014, we launched our flagship smoke-free product, IQOS, in Japan and Italy. Two years later, we officially announced our ambition to deliver a smoke-free future. 

In 2020, our company received authorization from the Food & Drug Administration to sell our flagship heated tobacco product in the U.S. as a Modified Risk Tobacco Product with Reduced Exposure Claims, the first electrically heated tobacco product to receive such an authorization. This authorization confirmed our heated tobacco product as fundamentally different than cigarettes and found that the exposure modification order for it would be appropriate to promote public health. Since then, various health authorities and a growing number of countries have been recognizing the fundamental difference between smoke-free products and cigarettes, identifying tobacco harm reduction as a viable strategy to decrease smoking rates faster and improve public health, complementing traditional tobacco control measures.  

To meet evolving consumers’ demand and needs, in 2022 we acquired Swedish Match – a leader in oral nicotine delivery – creating a global smoke-free champion led by the companies’ leading brands.  

As of September 30, 2024, our smoke-free products were available for sale in 92 markets worldwide. We estimate that approximately 36.8 million adults around the world use our smoke-free products, with nearly 72% having fully switched to our flagship heated tobacco product and stopped smoking. 

In under a decade, we have created a USD 10 billion smoke-free business, with our flagship heated tobacco product net revenues surpassing those of our leading cigarette brand in the fourth quarter of 2023. Our smoke-free business accounted for approximately 38% of our total first nine months of 2024 net revenues, putting us on track to becoming a predominantly smoke-free company by 2030. 

– Can you share some success stories or significant achievements in reducing cigarette consumption? 

– There are notable examples from Europe illustrating the significant impact of smoke-free products on smoking rates. 

For instance, Sweden has seen huge success in the decline of smoking rate. According to the latest data from Sweden’s public health agency, Sweden is close to become the first smoke-free country worldwide, with just over 5% of smokers – a percentage significantly close to the globally recognized benchmark of 5% for smoke-free status. This success can be primarily attributed to the accessibility, acceptance, and affordability of better tobacco and nicotine alternatives compared to cigarette smoking, such heated tobacco, vapes, nicotine pouches, and most notably snus—a moist oral tobacco placed behind the upper lip that releases flavors and nicotine via mucosal contact. 

Public health data show that rates of smoking prevalence is significantly lower in Sweden than across the rest of the European Union, with average smoking rates in Europe (24%) almost five times higher than Sweden’s. Sweden’s approach resulted in a staggering 27% decline in smoking prevalence compared to the 11% observed in the 27 European countries between 2014 and 2023. Could Sweden’s diminishing smoking and tobacco-related mortality rates be due to stricter smoking control measures? It appears not, as this country’s cigarette regulations—which include minimum age limits, marketing restrictions, prominent health warnings, a ban on characterizing flavors, and indoor smoking bans—are broadly similar to those adopted by the rest of the EU. 

– How has PMI leveraged scientific research and technological innovation to develop smoke-free products? 

– At PMI, Research and Development (R&D) catalyzes our business transformation. The rigor with which we conduct our research—and the openness with which we share our methodologies and results—builds confidence in our science among the scientific community, regulators, and our consumers, and allows us to commercialize our smoke-free products around the world. 

Conducting our R&D responsibly and sharing our R&D methods and results openly and transparently is of utmost importance. Transparency, when coupled with scientific integrity and rigor, addresses skepticism and mistrust, fostering collaboration and partnership. Evidence and results from our robust scientific assessments advance the debate on public health and tobacco harm reduction to the benefit of adult smokers. As of today, we have more than 530 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on smoke-free products, while from 2015 to 2023 we filed 3,720 patents that are now granted for smoke-free technologies.  

The work of our 1,586 scientists, engineers, technicians, and support staff is focused on developing and scientifically substantiating smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes for adults who would otherwise continue to smoke. And an essential part of our work is demonstrating that, with smoke-free products, we have eliminated combustion. 

Eliminating combustion significantly reduces levels of exposure to harmful and potentially harmful chemicals compared with smoking. Those chemicals are the root cause of smoking-related diseases, and not nicotine as many people may often think. In fact, we know that while nicotine is not risk-free and is addictive, it is not the primary cause of smoking-related diseases based on the assessment and categorization of the constituents in smoke by different public health organizations. 

– What are PMI’s long-term goals for its smoke-free initiative? 

– We have a bold ambition: We want cigarettes to be replaced by science-based smoke-free products as soon as possible, to the benefit of people who smoke, those who care about them, and public health. We are disrupting our business to achieve this ambition as quickly as possible, shifting our resources and fundamentally changing both our purpose and our operations. As we advance toward our bold vision of a smoke-free future, our ambition is for smoke-free products to account for more than two-thirds of our total net revenues by 2030. 

Although PMI’s transformation journey started with a vision centered on the critical mission of phasing out cigarettes, this is not our company’s sole or ultimate end goal. Researching and developing noncombustible alternatives that are scientifically substantiated to be less harmful than cigarettes is just the first step. 

With a longer horizon in sight, the critical next step in PMI’s transformation is leveraging our expertise and capabilities to expand into products beyond tobacco and nicotine as part of a natural evolution into a broader wellness and healthcare business. Leveraging our company’s expertise in aerosol chemistry and physics, best-in class preclinical safety and toxicology and clinical research capabilities, and continued investment in our capabilities and R&D programs, we intend to develop and responsibly commercialize innovative and differentiated products to address unmet patient and consumer needs. 

– Almost one-fourth of our population smoke conventional cigarettes, while half of men reportedly smoke. The Azerbaijani government adopted several programs to fight smoking, including the State Program on Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases for 2015-2020. However, smoking rates remain high. On the other hand, IQOS was launched in Azerbaijan in June 2024. Do you think that the recently launched smoke-free products by PMI will be able to decrease smoking incidence in Azerbaijan?”

– If you look at the experience of other countries, you can see that smoke-free products are indeed capable of decreasing smoking incidence. In Japan—the first market where IQOS was launched in 2014—newly released public health data by the National Health and Nutritional Survey (NHNS), an annual nationwide health examination survey conducted since 1948 by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, shows a 46% decrease in cigarette-smoking prevalence since 2014, dropping from 19.6% of all adults to 10.6% in 2022.

This decline correlates with the introduction of heated tobacco products and their subsequent widespread adoption by millions of adults who smoke in Japan. The country continues to have the highest number of heated-tobacco-product users, and tobacco prevalence has not increased since they were introduced. Not only has the total tobacco use prevalence continued to decline, but the introduction of heated tobacco products in Japan appears to have helped many adult smokers transition away from cigarettes to less harmful alternatives, leading to a reduction in the number of adults smoking cigarettes.

Azerbaijan is known for its openness to innovation. We have brought the product to the market. We would like for smokers who do not quit to switch to a better alternative. Making Azerbaijan smoke-free is possible with the commitment from government and increasing public support for smoke-free products.

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