by James A. Bacon

The company has plunked down $350 million to build a state-of-the-art research center, in effect doubling a R&D commitment that in 2007 had totaled about $400 million over the previous decade. It's a good bet that the people responsible for investing tens of millions of dollars a year, both in company labs and in sponsored research at universities around the country, have laid out a plan detailing the most promising places to spend the money. 

Trouble is, Philip Morris officials won't say in any detail what they're researching. And they're not about to speculate about how many lives that research potentially could save. The company is pushing for regulatory oversight by the Food and Drug Administration to establish standards by which such claims credibly can be made.

Philip Morris' research program will constitute such a huge share of the life sciences research in the Richmond region, however, and the prospect exists that, if successful, so many lives could be saved, that Greater Richmond BioSynthesis was determined to learn more. And it turns out that Philip Morris does leave a trail: It's possible to gather hints about research priorities from patent filings and employment ads.

In dissecting Philip Morris' R&D program, it's helpful to view research areas through the prism of the life cycle of the product -- from the tobacco leaf to the cigarette, and then the interaction of the cigarette smoke with the human body on a cellular and molecular level.

successful candidate will work interactively with Philip Morris scientists and company-funded academic institutions to develop computational tools that will facilitate gene discovery and annotation." 

Another critical stage is the curing process, which removes moisture from the tobacco leaf. A Chester, Va., company, Star Scientific, Inc., has invented a patented curing process that it claims significantly reduces levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs), one of the more carcinogenic compounds found in tobacco smoke. Star has developed two low-TSNA smokeless tobacco brands that it claims reduce cancer risk by 90 percent compared to smoking conventional cigarettes.

Could Philip Morris be pursuing a similar strategy? Senior Media Manager Steve Callahan does confirm that nitrosamines are one focus of its research relating to tobacco plants. "We do a lot of work with farmers and land grant universities," he says. "From seed to barn."

Another scientific topic that draws considerable research attention is the chemical processes involved with tobacco combustion. The act of igniting and burning the cigarette creates compounds that do not reside in the tobacco leaf. The result is, in the words of tobacco researcher Jonathan Foulds, "an unavoidably toxic cocktail." 

in such a way as to release the flavors that smokers craved. But the hand-held, electrical heating device, packaged under the name Accord, didn't appeal to smokers.

Another product of combustion is carbon monoxide, a molecule that binds with red blood cells, replacing oxygen in the blood. The gas, which is fatal in large quantities, is believed to be a significant contributor to heart disease and lung disorders. Philip Morris has racked up a number of patents that attack the carbon-monoxide problem. One process would use chemical catalysts that convert carbon monoxide into harmless carbon dioxide.

Another research strategy is to use nano-scale filters to block harmful substances from being inhaled. Philip Morris has filed patents on technologies that can remove smoke components such as aldehydes, furans, pyrroles, aromatics and ketones. The filters consist of fibers or particles that operate at a micro-scale, as small as one to 50 micrometers in diameter.

Of particular interest are nano-composite copper-ceria catalysts that are useful for catalyzing chemicals at near ambient-air temperatures. As a bonus, these catalysts, says the patent filing, have potential applications outside the tobacco industry. The patent filing lists "vehicle exhaust emission systems of automobiles and diesel engines, cold starting of automobile engines, fuel cells, lasers, hydrocarbon conversion reactors, air filters for the conversion of carbon monoxide and/or indoor volatile organic compounds, and smoking articles."

Another plan of attack is to probe what happens when smoke is inhaled into the lungs and chemicals are absorbed into the blood stream. Philip Morris donated $25 million to the University of Virginia to gain, among other things, "a clearer understanding of the molecular level of the genesis and progression of diseases associated with smoking." UVA President John Casteen elaborated:

Faculty researchers here are engaged in ground-breaking molecular research aimed at identifying the genes that make certain people susceptible to chemical and nicotine dependencies, and others apparently not susceptible, and at developing medical-imaging techniques to enhance medical understanding of smoking-related illnesses.

In more molecular-level research, Philip Morris scientists are working to identify key constituents of tobacco smoke that contribute to oxidative stress -- a phenomenon caused by highly reactive molecules known as free radicals. One 2007 job posting described a staff  position that would "conduct research on the role of oxidative stress, cell injury/death ... and antioxidant-related signaling processes in tobacco use-related cancer."

A senior geneticist position, also advertised in 2007, would lead a team of genetic scientists to investigate "complex chronic diseases with the goal of reducing the risk and harm associated with cigarette smoke and other products."

Apparently, research into tobacco-related disease processes can boost efforts to fight cancer. An article in a periodical published last year by the American Association for Cancer Research described a means for identifying the genes in a tumor that allow it to evade the body's natural defenses. Said an investigator from the University of Southern California: "The implication is that once you know the mechanism by which tumors evade the immune system, you can match that tumor to available therapies." Philip Morris helped fund the research.

Philip Morris' tobacco division is not set up to exploit all of the company's promising discoveries, so it has set up a unit, Chrysalis Technologies located in Chesterfield County, to which it can transfer intellectual property it could not otherwise exploit. Chrysalis generated a flurry of attention in 2005 when it unveiled a hand-held inhaler, the Aria. The device delivers drugs to the lungs via a soft-mist aerosol -- potentially useful for pharmaceuticals that don't survive the passage through the stomach in pill form.

While bits and pieces of information may surface in the public domain, Philip Morris officials remain tight-lipped. "We've been exploring several areas," says spokesman Callahan. "We can't make any claims or speculate. We've got a lot of learning ahead."

-- February 1, 2008