{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,4]],"date-time":"2026-10-04T22:10:22Z","timestamp":1791151822368,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,27]],"date-time":"2024-06-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1719446400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,22]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The tobacco industry has a long history of manipulating science to conceal the harms of its products. As part of its proclaimed transformation, the world\u2019s largest tobacco company, Philip Morris International (PMI), states it conducts \u201ctransparent science.\u201d This paper uses recently leaked documents from PMI and its Japanese affiliate, Philip Morris Japan (PMJ), to examine its contemporary scientific practices.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Aims and Methods<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Twenty-four documents dating 2012 through 2020 available from the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents Library were examined using Forster\u2019s hermeneutic approach to analyzing corporate documentation. Thematic analysis using the Science for Profit Model was conducted to assess whether PMI and PMJ employed known corporate strategies to influence science in their interests.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>PMJ contracted third-party external research organization, CMIC, to covertly fund a study on smoking cessation conducted by Kyoto University academics. No public record of PMJ\u2019s funding or involvement in this study was found. PMJ paid life sciences consultancy, FTI-Innovations, \u00a53 000 000 (approx. \u00a320 000) a month between 2014 and 2019 to undertake extensive science-adjacent work, including building relationships with key scientific opinion leaders and using academic events to promote PMI\u2019s science, products and messaging. FTI-Innovation\u2019s work was hidden internally and externally. These activities resemble known strategies to influence the conduct, publication and reach of science, and conceal scientific activities.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The documents reveal PMI and PMJ\u2019s recent activities mirror past practices to manipulate science, undermining PMI\u2019s proclaimed transformation. Tobacco industry scientific practices remain a threat to public health, highlighting the urgent need for reform to protect science from the tobacco industry\u2019s vested interests.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Implications<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Japan is a key market for PMI, being a launch market for IQOS and having the highest heated tobacco product use globally. Our findings, in conjunction with other recent evidence, challenge PMI\u2019s assertion that it is a source of credible science and cast doubt on the quality and ethical defensibility of its research, especially its studies conducted in Japan. This, in turn, brings into question the true public health impacts of its products. There is an urgent need to reform the way tobacco-related science is funded and conducted. Implementation of models through which research can be funded using the industry\u2019s profits while minimizing its influence should be explored.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1093\/ntr\/ntae101","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,27]],"date-time":"2024-06-27T00:07:21Z","timestamp":1719446841000},"page":"794-804","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["\u201cKeep it a secret\u201d: Leaked Documents Suggest Philip Morris International, and Its Japanese Affiliate, Continue to Exploit Science for Profit"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7443-2795","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sophie","family":"Braznell","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Tobacco Control Research Group, Department for Health, University of Bath , Bath ,","place":["UK"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4039-5372","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Louis","family":"Laurence","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Tobacco Control Research Group, Department for Health, University of Bath , Bath ,","place":["UK"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2672-0220","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Iona","family":"Fitzpatrick","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Tobacco Control Research Group, Department for Health, University of Bath , Bath ,","place":["UK"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0281-1248","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anna B","family":"Gilmore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Tobacco Control Research Group, Department for Health, University of Bath , Bath ,","place":["UK"]},{"name":"SPECTRUM (Shaping Public Health Policies to Reduce Inequalities and Harm) Consortium , Bath ,","place":["UK"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,6,27]]},"reference":[{"issue":"6","key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0253272","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0253272","article-title":"The science for profit model\u2014how and why corporations influence science and the use of science in policy and practice","volume":"16","author":"Legg","year":"2021","journal-title":"PLoS One."},{"issue":"2","key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"200","DOI":"10.1177\/003335490512000215","article-title":"Tobacco industry manipulation of research","volume":"120","author":"Bero","year":"2005","journal-title":"Public Health Rep."},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0003","volume-title":"Leading tobacco companies worldwide in 2021, based on market value (in billion U.S. dollars). Statista","author":"Forbes","year":"2022"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0004","article-title":"Philip Morris International: The Beginning of the End","author":"Gilmore","year":"2020","journal-title":"Expose Tobacco."},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0005","volume-title":"Our Transformation","author":"Philip Morris International","year":"2022"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0006","volume-title":"Addiction at Any Cost. Philip Morris International Uncovered. STOP","author":"Karen Evans-Reeves","year":"2020"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0007","volume-title":"The research and evidence to date on smoke-free products","author":"Philip Morris International","year":"2023"},{"issue":"2","key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"313","DOI":"10.1136\/tobaccocontrol-2021-056687","article-title":"Evaluating tobacco industry \u2018transformation\u2019: a proposed rubric and analysis","volume":"31","author":"Edwards","year":"2022","journal-title":"Tob Control."},{"issue":"e1","key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e65","DOI":"10.1136\/tobaccocontrol-2020-056003","article-title":"Paying lip service to publication ethics: scientific publishing practices and the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World","volume":"30","author":"Legg","year":"2021","journal-title":"Tob Control."},{"issue":"11","key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1749","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.91.11.1749","article-title":"Constructing \u201csound science\u201d and \u201cgood epidemiology\u201d: tobacco, lawyers, and public relations firms","volume":"91","author":"Ong","year":"2001","journal-title":"Am J Public Health."},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0011","article-title":"Special Report - Scientists describe problems in Philip Morris e-cigarette experiments","author":"Lasseter","year":"2017","journal-title":"Reuters"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"383","DOI":"10.1136\/tc-2022-057522","article-title":"Critical appraisal of interventional clinical trials assessing heated tobacco products: a systematic review","volume":"33","author":"Braznell","year":"2024","journal-title":"Tob Control."},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0013","author":"Donahue","year":"2021"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0014","volume-title":"Philip Morris Products S.A. Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) Applications","author":"U.S. Food & Drug Administration","year":"2022"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0015","volume-title":"Tobacco Heating System (THS)'s Scientific Dossier submitted in line with EU\u2019s Tobacco Products Directive","author":"Philip Morris International","year":"2019"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0016","volume-title":"Harm reduction: A focus on Japan","author":"Philip Morris International","year":"2022"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0017","article-title":"The analysis of company documentation","volume-title":"Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research: A Practical Guide","author":"Forster","year":"1997"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0018","first-page":"tc","article-title":"Document analysis of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World\u2019s scientific outputs and activities: a case study in contemporary tobacco industry agnogenesis","author":"Legg","year":"2023","journal-title":"Tob Control."},{"issue":"9","key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1001506","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pmed.1001506","article-title":"Transnational tobacco company interests in smokeless tobacco in Europe: analysis of internal industry documents and contemporary industry materials","volume":"10","author":"Peeters","year":"2013","journal-title":"PLoS Med."},{"issue":"2","key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"182","DOI":"10.1136\/tobaccocontrol-2013-051502","article-title":"Understanding the emergence of the tobacco industry\u2019s use of the term tobacco harm reduction in order to inform public health policy","volume":"24","author":"Peeters","year":"2015","journal-title":"Tob Control."},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0021","volume-title":"Master Clinical Services Agreement","author":"Philip Morris Products SA","year":"2012"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0022","volume-title":"Contract Research Organization, Your End-to-End Solutions Provider","author":"CMIC HOLDINGS Co., LTD","year":"2022"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0023","volume-title":"Project Agreement - Consultancy Services","author":"Philip Morris Japan","year":"2016"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0024","volume-title":"Amendment No. 1 to Master Clinical Services Agreement","author":"Philip Morris International","year":"2014"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0025","volume-title":"Project Agreement-2. Consultancy Services","author":"Philip Morris Japan","year":"2016"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0026","volume-title":"Amendment No. 1 to Project Agreement-2. Consultancy Services","author":"Philip Morris Japan","year":"2018"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0027","volume-title":"Amendment No. 2 to Project Agreement-2. Consultancy Services","author":"Philip Morris Japan","year":"2019"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0028","volume-title":"Kyoto Contract Correlations","author":"Iida","year":"2014"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0029","volume-title":"Tobacco Industry Product Terminology","author":"Tobacco Tactics","year":"2023"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0030","volume-title":"A multicenter, open-label, three-parallel group study to assess the velocity of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) dilatation in adult smokers randomized to either cigarette smoking or IQOS use and compared with abstinent patients. Controlled study","author":"Philip Morris Products SA","year":"2023"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0031","volume-title":"Service Completion Report - Study on smoking cessation with medical\/drug database by conducting research in pharmacies nationwide","author":"Kondo","year":"2018"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0032","volume-title":"RE: Concept Sheet on Smoking Cessation Research (Yoshida, Kyoto University)","author":"Iida","year":"2017"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0033","author":"Kawakami","year":"2018","journal-title":"RE: Progress on Smoking Cessation Research (Yoshida, Kyoto University)"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0034","volume-title":"RE: Thank you for the meeting (CMIC Kondo)","author":"Kawakami","year":"2017"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0035","volume-title":"RE: Philip Morris Epidemiological study on smoking cessation (Kondo, CMIC)","author":"Iida","year":"18  2017"},{"key":"2025042201520856900_CIT0036","volume-title":"Service Agreement (Kyoto University, CMIC Co. 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