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 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.