As Philip Morris continues to invest in nontraditional tobacco products to compensate for declining cigarette use in key markets, CEO Andre Calantzopoulos says he hopes the company someday moves away from cigarette production entirely.
Mr. Calantzopoulos made such remarks during an interview with British Broadcasting Corp.'s Radio 4, according to The Wall Street Journal. The comments come as the tobacco giant launches its heat-not-burn tobacco product in the United Kingdom. The product, IQOS, is about the size of a fountain pen and differs from traditional e-cigarettes, which vaporize nicotine contained in liquid, by heating the tobacco long enough to produce a vapor without burning it, purportedly making the product less harmful.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Calantzopoulos told BBC4 he believes "there will come a moment in time where I would say we have sufficient adoption of these alternative products ... and sufficient awareness to start envisaging together with government a phase-out period for cigarettes, and I hope this time will come soon."
However, the company is likely to remain in the cigarette business for the foreseeable future. During the interview with BBC4, Mr. Calantzopoulos himself cited World Health Organization projections suggesting there will still be more than 1 billion smokers around the globe by 2025. Still, the CEO said the company is transitioning away from traditional cigarettes.
"I think we're transforming our company to achieve this," Mr. Calantzopoulos told BBC4, according to the Wall Street Journal. "We're moving very massively our resources and the focus of the organization from our existing traditional business to the new one so, as far as we are concerned, we will do everything we can to accelerate the reaching of consumers to this product [IQOS]."
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