The Drug Delivery to the Lungs conference organizing committee and the British Thoracic Society have both announced that they will cut ties with inhalation CDMO Vectura following the company’s acquisition by tobacco company Philip Morris International. Vectura announced in May 2021 that it would be acquired by the Carlyle Group; however, the company withdrew its support for the Carlyle Group deal after Philip Morris made a higher bid in July 2021.
On September 16, Philip Morris announced that it has acquired or otherwise secured almost 75% of Vectura stock. CEO Jacek Olczak said, “We have reached an important milestone in our acquisition of Vectura and are pleased to have secured over 74% of the company’s shares, in excess of the 50% required to make our offer unconditional and PMI the majority shareholder. We are very excited about the critical role Vectura will play in our Beyond Nicotine strategy and look forward to working with Vectura’s scientists and providing them with the resources and expertise to grow their business to help us achieve our goal of generating at least $1 billion in net revenues from Beyond Nicotine products by 2025.”
In a September 17 LinkedIn post, DDL organizing committee chair Gary Pitcairn announced, “In light of the recent acquisition of Vectura by PMI, the DDL Committee have sadly decided that they can no longer accept support from Vectura. The Committee would like to stress that they recognize and greatly appreciate the past support provided, and in particular the great contributions made to the field by the scientists working within Vectura. However, the primary purpose of DDL is to support the science behind pulmonary delivery of drugs to treat respiratory diseases and we do not wish to be associated with PMI and the tobacco industry.”
Other groups have also questioned the propriety of the PMI acquisition, including the British Thoracic Society which issued a statement saying that Vectura employees will be ineligible for membership and will be unable to publish papers in Thorax and BMJ Open Respiratory Research. In addition, Vectura will not be allowed to exhibit at any of the society’s meetings.
According to an article in The Guardian, Vectura has also been removed as a sponsor of the upcoming Formulation and Delivery UK conference after a group of academics led by Peter Barnes of the National Heart and Lung Institute told meeting organizer Oxford Global that they would refuse to participate in the conference if Vectura was included.
In a letter to Vectura employees dated September 16, Olczak acknowledged, “Some of you may have questions and even concerns about our intent.” He continued, “That is understandable. We ask that you allow us to demonstrate to you who we are as a company. Please get to know us as people and hear first-hand about how we are putting our commitments to transparency, science, and open dialogue into action. You can be confident that we will give you every reason to take pride in Vectura’s place within PMI.”
Read the PMI press release.
Read the PMI letter to Vectura employees.
Read the British Thoracic Society statement.
Read the article in The Guardian.
