Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgame
Context Declining smoking prevalence and denormalisation of tobacco in developed countries reduced transnational tobacco company (TTC) profit during 1990s and 2000s. As these companies faced increasingly restrictive policies and lawsuits, they planned to shift their business to socially acceptable r...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2024-02-01
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| Series: | BMJ Global Health |
| Online Access: | https://gh.bmj.com/content/9/2/e013866.full |
| _version_ | 1797289431058612224 |
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| author | Pamela M. Ling Yogi Hale Hendlin Elieen Le Han |
| author_facet | Pamela M. Ling Yogi Hale Hendlin Elieen Le Han |
| author_sort | Pamela M. Ling |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Context Declining smoking prevalence and denormalisation of tobacco in developed countries reduced transnational tobacco company (TTC) profit during 1990s and 2000s. As these companies faced increasingly restrictive policies and lawsuits, they planned to shift their business to socially acceptable reduced-harm products. We describe the internal motivations and strategies to achieve this goal.Methods We analysed previously secret tobacco industry documents available through the Truth Tobacco Documents Library. These documents were triangulated with TTCs’ investor and other professional reports, websites and public statements.Findings Mimicking pharmaceutical business models, tobacco companies sought to refurbish their image and ensure long-term profitability by creating and selling pharmaceutical-like products as smoking declined. These products included snus, heated tobacco products, e-cigarettes, nicotine gums and inhalers. Tobacco companies created separate divisions to develop and roll out these products, and the majority developed medical research programmes to steer these products through regulatory agencies, seeking certification as reduced-harm or pharmaceutical products. These products were regarded as key to the survival of the tobacco industry in an unfriendly political and social climate.Conclusions Pharmaceuticalisation was pursued to perpetuate the profitability of tobacco and nicotine for tobacco companies, not as a sincere search to mitigate the harms of smoking in society. Promotion of new pharmaceuticalised products has split the tobacco control community, with some public health professionals and institutions advocating for the use of ‘clean’ reduced-harm nicotine and tobacco products, essentially carrying out tobacco industry objectives. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T19:04:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f47961aad9a941d89589b5c0f92e0d5f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2059-7908 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T19:04:51Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Global Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-f47961aad9a941d89589b5c0f92e0d5f2024-03-01T10:15:08ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Global Health2059-79082024-02-019210.1136/bmjgh-2023-013866Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgamePamela M. Ling0Yogi Hale Hendlin1Elieen Le Han2Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USACenter for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USACenter for Tobacco Control Research and Education, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California, USAContext Declining smoking prevalence and denormalisation of tobacco in developed countries reduced transnational tobacco company (TTC) profit during 1990s and 2000s. As these companies faced increasingly restrictive policies and lawsuits, they planned to shift their business to socially acceptable reduced-harm products. We describe the internal motivations and strategies to achieve this goal.Methods We analysed previously secret tobacco industry documents available through the Truth Tobacco Documents Library. These documents were triangulated with TTCs’ investor and other professional reports, websites and public statements.Findings Mimicking pharmaceutical business models, tobacco companies sought to refurbish their image and ensure long-term profitability by creating and selling pharmaceutical-like products as smoking declined. These products included snus, heated tobacco products, e-cigarettes, nicotine gums and inhalers. Tobacco companies created separate divisions to develop and roll out these products, and the majority developed medical research programmes to steer these products through regulatory agencies, seeking certification as reduced-harm or pharmaceutical products. These products were regarded as key to the survival of the tobacco industry in an unfriendly political and social climate.Conclusions Pharmaceuticalisation was pursued to perpetuate the profitability of tobacco and nicotine for tobacco companies, not as a sincere search to mitigate the harms of smoking in society. Promotion of new pharmaceuticalised products has split the tobacco control community, with some public health professionals and institutions advocating for the use of ‘clean’ reduced-harm nicotine and tobacco products, essentially carrying out tobacco industry objectives.https://gh.bmj.com/content/9/2/e013866.full |
| spellingShingle | Pamela M. Ling Yogi Hale Hendlin Elieen Le Han Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgame BMJ Global Health |
| title | Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgame |
| title_full | Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgame |
| title_fullStr | Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgame |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgame |
| title_short | Pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry’s endgame |
| title_sort | pharmaceuticalisation as the tobacco industry s endgame |
| url | https://gh.bmj.com/content/9/2/e013866.full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pamelamling pharmaceuticalisationasthetobaccoindustrysendgame AT yogihalehendlin pharmaceuticalisationasthetobaccoindustrysendgame AT elieenlehan pharmaceuticalisationasthetobaccoindustrysendgame |