Episode 2: Philip Morris, Vectura and the end of cigarettes‪?‬ Business Leader

A look at one of the most controversial takeovers in British corporate history, a business strategy like no other and whether those involved in creating an enormous global health problem - smoking - should be trusted to play a role in fixing it. In the second episode of Business Studies we interview Jacek Olczak, chief executive of Philip Morris International, the owner of Marlboro and the largest tobacco company in the world, on his stated ambitions to eradicate smoking and the cigarette - a product Mr Philip Morris started selling from a shop in Bond Street, London, in 1847. Why did the cigarette maker buy Vectura, a company that makes treatments for respiratory diseases, and why should the tobacco industry be trusted? These questions and more are asked in an episode that raises issues that go well beyond business…


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit offtolunch.substack.com