Objectivity and transparency underpin our research

Scientific objectivity and transparency are fundamental principles that guide our research. At Philip Morris International (PMI), responsible research and development (R&D) means ensuring the credibility, integrity, and robustness of our scientific research in alignment with international standards. We accurately and transparently share our methods and results. 

Our goal is to develop a portfolio of less harmful alternatives to continued cigarette smoking. For these smoke-free products, we’ve implemented a comprehensive and rigorous product development and assessment approach.  

Our scientific standards 

We follow scientific standards, including the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and Good Clinical Practice (GCP). These guidelines set the framework of how we conduct and document our research. We have quality and document management systems in place to achieve full traceability and reproducibility, and we follow good documentation and archiving practices as required by GLP and GCP.  

Our scientific standards ensure that all results are taken into consideration and are published. We value negative results: we share them with our product development teams to further improve our products and assist us in achieving the highest possible standards for our smoke-free products.  

Sharing our research and findings 

We aim to share our research and results so that scientists and nonscientists alike can learn more about our work. Our research findings give context to some of our conclusions on our products, and provide references to the research that led us to those conclusions. 

We also regularly publish a Scientific Update–a summary of the latest research and developments relating to our smoke-free products. You can read past issues of the Scientific Update here. And in 2020, we started our Open Science series, where we have publicly presented our findings and answered questions about our research and technology. Learn more about Open Science. 

We invite visitors to our Research & Development facility in Neuchâtel. Look around our facilities via our virtual tour. We also encourage questions through our social media channels or to contact us directly. We try to respond as quickly possible.  

Publishing our research

We publish the key findings of our research in peer-reviewed academic journals, and our scientists participate in leading scientific conferences around the world. In line with our commitment to transparency, we always disclose funding information related to our scientific publications. 

452 scientific publications from 2008 to 2020 indicate a very important scientific output since the opening of our R&D facility in 2008. We register all our clinical studies with ClinicalTrials.gov. We also collaborate with experts to verify our methods on specific scientific topics such as combustion. Read our expert reports here.

The Investigator Initiated Studies (IIS) program supports external scientists and institutions who have the relevant expertise to conduct smoke-free product research. We do this by providing financial support, product/equipment support, or technical support. The scope of the IIS program is similar to our research program, and includes aerosol chemistry, systems biology, toxicology, clinical, and post-market surveillance studies of PMI’s commercialized smoke-free products. 

At PMI, we also welcome and encourage independent research on our smoke-free products and our methods and results. Sharing our science and listening to feedback are fundamental to encouraging debate with experts and the broader public.  

We recognize that our scientific work must also be assessed by independent experts. We look forward to receiving independent results on our smoke-free products and to fostering open scientific conversations.

Learn more about our initiatives to encourage independent verification on smoke-free product research.