Adapting Inhaled Medication Practice in COPD and Asthma to Avoid Funding the Tobacco Industry

The takeover of Vectura, a healthcare company specialising in inhaled medication, by Philip Morris International raises serious ethical concerns. The European Respiratory Society notes that "health professionals will avoid prescribing drugs from any company that enriches the tobacco industry du...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 2021-01, Vol.16, p.2917-2923
Main Authors: Capstick, Toby G D, Hopkinson, Nicholas S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asthma
Business ethics
Cigarettes
Collaboration
Corporate social responsibility
Distributive justice
Drug therapy
Drugs
Ethical aspects
ethics
Expert Opinion
Health care industry
Humans
Inhalers
Lung diseases
Medical ethics
Patients
Prescribing
Professional ethics
Professionals
public health
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - diagnosis
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - drug therapy
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - epidemiology
Respiratory agents
Smoking
Social aspects
Tobacco Industry
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Summary:The takeover of Vectura, a healthcare company specialising in inhaled medication, by Philip Morris International raises serious ethical concerns. The European Respiratory Society notes that "health professionals will avoid prescribing drugs from any company that enriches the tobacco industry due to the ethical implications". People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma will also be reluctant to use medications which profit a company that is estimated to kill at least one million people every year. We discuss the practicalities involved in switching people with lung disease to inhaled medications that are not tobacco industry linked. Potential alternative inhaled medications are set out, which are likely to be equally effective for most patients. A consideration of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and distributive justice demonstrates strong ethical reasons to support switching away from the prescription of tobacco industry linked products.
ISSN:1178-2005
1176-9106
1178-2005
DOI:10.2147/COPD.S337066