Our goal is to develop a portfolio of less harmful alternatives to continued cigarette smoking. At PMI, responsible R&D means ensuring the credibility, integrity, and robustness of our scientific research in alignment with international standards, as well as transparency in our methods and results. Our initiatives are part of this commitment to sharing our science, listening to feedback, and encouraging debate with experts and the broader public.
We developed the INTERVALS™ online platform to share and explore smoke-free products assessment data and results, along with mechanistic studies on smoking-related diseases. It is meant to be a repository of data from various sources on smoke-free products, in addition to PMI’s research data. The sharing of our scientific data and papers allows the research community and broader public to gain an in-depth perspective into how PMI conducts its R&D.
Our open-source data are available for verification via sbv IMPROVER which stands for Systems Biology Verification combined with Industrial Methodology for Process Verification in Research. This approach aims to provide a measure of quality control of industrial research and development by verifying the methods used. The sbv IMPROVER project was initially developed by PMI Research and Development and IBM Research between 2011 and 2013 and is since an effort led and funded by PMI.
It is different from other scientific crowdsourcing approaches as it focuses on the verification of processes in an industrial context, and not just on basic questions regarding science. The sbv IMPROVER approach allows an organization to benchmark its methods and industrial processes.
The ABOUT™ Toolbox is a portfolio of self-report instruments that we are developing to assess people’s perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors towards smoke-free products in a scientifically robust manner. Five domains are being investigated: Perceived Risk, Use History, Product Experience, Dependence, and Health and Functioning. The ABOUT™ Toolbox instruments are distributed by Mapi Research Trust on our behalf and made available to the wider scientific community through the ePROVIDETM platform.
