Tobacco Leaves Saves Lives, Philip Morris

Governments across the world consider forcing tobacco companies to feature the dangerous effects of their products on cigarette packages, Philip Morris International is attempting to change public opinion on tobacco. According to Zacks Equity Research, the tobacco giant just bought a 40 percent stake in Canadian biotech company Medicago to help develop influenza vaccines that use tobacco leaves. The company began its vaccination efforts in 1999, trying to develop flu vaccines from Alfalfa. When the time commitment began to become too great, Medicago switched its focus to tobacco. Now, it expects a tobacco-oriented vaccine to be licensed and available to the public by 2014. The vaccine’s success would be a big boost for Philip Morris, which has often looked for ways to use tobacco beneficially and reduce some of the negative public opinion of the product. The company has already heavily invested in an aerosol nicotine-delivery system developed by Duke’s Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research, for example. The new machine would deliver nicotine to a user’s lungs without involving smoking and its associated toxins. Philip Morris has been involved with Medicago ventures since 2007, when it granted the company a research contract of $500,000. It invested another $15 million in Medicago in November 2008 and bought $9 million of its shares last April. Now, it owns 40 percent in common shares of the company.