PCRS Response to the approval of the takeover of Vectura by Philip Morris International
PCRS is deeply concerned about the takeover of Vectura, a pharmaceutical company producing medicines for the treatment of respiratory disease, by Philip Morris International, a company whose tobacco products continue to cause addiction, suffering and death around the world. PCRS continue to support healthcare practitioners to identify and support individuals to overcome tobacco dependency, thereby reducing their risk and the risk of those around them, of developing life-threatening tobacco-related respiratory disease.
“It seems morally wrong for a company to profit from both causing respiratory disease and from selling the drugs needed to treat it” Carol Stonham MBE, RN, MSc, QN and PCRS Executive Chair
Philip Morris International, through the promotion and sale of tobacco products, contributes to the annual £14.7 billion cost to the UK economy as a result of tobacco dependency, as well as the estimated 90,000 deaths and 35,500 cases of tobacco-related cancers each and every year. Entrusting any part of the medical supply chain for respiratory diseases to a company that has and continues to profit from tobacco dependency is deeply concerning and something that PCRS opposes.
PCRS is fully aligned with other UK- and US-based healthcare organisations and patient charities to strongly oppose the takeover of Vectura by Philip Morris International.