Our goal is to develop a portfolio of less harmful alternatives to continued cigarette smoking. For these reduced-risk products*, we’ve implemented a comprehensive and rigorous product-development and assessment approach. We were inspired by the methods used in the pharmaceutical industry and aligned with U.S. FDA Food and Drug Administration draft guidance for Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP)1 applications, Good Laboratory Practices (GLPs), and Good Clinical Practices (GCPs). The assessment methods cover product-design controls, a range of toxicological tests (including limited animal testing), clinical studies, pre-market consumer perception and behavior studies, and post-market assessments.
Sharing and gathering feedback on our research helps answer the questions raised by regulators, scientific experts, and society at large. We share our methodologies and findings through scientific publications, presentations at scientific conferences, and on PMIScience. Between 2008 and 2020, we’ve published over 418 publications and book chapters in peer-reviewed scientific journals. We register all our clinical studies with ClinicalTrials.gov. We also regularly publish a Scientific Update – a summary of the latest research and developments relating to our reduced-risk products.
We recognize that our scientific work must also be assessed by independent experts. We welcome such review and are committed to share scientific data for independent verification by qualified third parties. We use an online platform called sbvIMPROVER to encourage verification by independent scientists of our methods and results.
* Reduced Risk Products (“RRPs”) is the term we use to refer to products that present, are likely to present, or have the potential to present less risk of harm to smokers who switch to these products versus continuing smoking. PMI has a range of RRPs in various stages of development, scientific assessment and commercialization. Our RRPs are smoke-free products that produce an aerosol that contains far lower quantities of harmful and potentially harmful constituents than found in cigarette smoke.
1 Food and Drug Administration (2012) Modified Risk Tobacco Product Applications. Vol. 77 FR 20026, Federal Register.
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