May 2026: Godfrey Phillips India Enters 3-Year Distribution Agreement for NRT Products in Strategic Move Into Smokeless Category
Godfrey Phillips India has entered a three-year distribution agreement with Aspeya India to market and distribute nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products across India, using its established retail and distribution network. The partnership allows Godfrey Phillips to expand beyond traditional tobacco into the regulated health and wellness segment.
The structure of the deal carries broader industry significance. Philip Morris International (PMI) is the foreign promoter shareholder of Godfrey Phillips India, while Aspeya is a fully owned PMI subsidiary focused consumer health and oral delivery technologies. The agreement comes against a restrictive regulatory backdrop in India, where nicotine pouches are currently banned. This limits access to modern oral nicotine formats and has pushed companies toward alternative, compliant pathways such as medically positioned NRT products. PMI’s structure in this deal suggests an effort to maintain exposure to India’s large smokeless nicotine demand through regulated channels rather than consumer pouch formats.
The arrangement strengthens PMI’s indirect positioning in India’s nicotine ecosystem by combining Godfrey Phillips’ domestic distribution reach with Aspeya’s product capabilities, while operating within the existing regulatory constraints.
January 2025: Philip Morris International partners with Avicanna in medical cannabis research
Philip Morris International (PMI)’s Vectura Fertin Pharma subsidary partners with Avicanna, a Canadian biopharmaceutical firm specializing in cannabinoid-based medicine. The partnership aims to leverage Avicanna’s expertise and its MyMedi.ca platform in order to advance medical cannabis research and improve accessibility in Canada.
PMI’s interest in cannabis is on the medical side so far, rather than recreational or consumer products. In 2016, PMI made an intial investment in Syqe Medical, a maker of medical cannabis inhalers, and in July 2023, it agreed to purchase the remaining shares of Syqe.
September 2024: Aspeya Emerges as PMI’s Standalone Consumer Health and Oral Delivery Technology Platform
Following the divestment of the Vectura Group business, the remaining units of Vectura Fertin Pharma are rebranded as Aspeya, a standalone company operating under the ownership of Philip Morris International (PMI). The company focuses on the development and commercialization of oral consumer health and wellness products, nicotine replacement therapies, cannabinoids, and selected inhaled prescription therapies targeting areas such as pain management and cardiovascular emergencies.
Aspeya benefits from access to the advanced oral technology platform of Fertin Pharma, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) and wholly owned subsidiary of Aspeya. Fertin Pharma specializes in innovative oral and intra-oral delivery systems, including gums, pouches, lozenges, tablets, and other solid oral formats designed to optimize the delivery of active ingredients while improving consumer experience and adherence. The company operates major R&D and manufacturing facilities across Denmark, Canada, and India, employs more than 1,200 people globally, and holds over 500 patents in oral delivery technologies.
The structure reflects PMI’s broader long-term strategy to expand beyond traditional tobacco and nicotine products into science-based wellness, self-care, and therapeutic solutions, leveraging capabilities in oral delivery science, inhalation technologies, and consumer health innovation.
September 2024: Philip Morris International sells the inhaled-medicine maker, Vectura to Molex at a loss
Vectura Fertin Pharma, an affiliate of Philip Morris International (PMI), sells its subsidiary Vectura to Molex Asia Holdings at a major loss to its 2021 acquisition price. The sale includes upfront cash consideration of £150 million and potential deferred payments of up to £148 million. PMI acquired Vectura in July 2021 for an enterprise value of £852 million (~US$ 1.2 billion). Under the terms of the acquisition, Vectura shareholders received 169 pence a share, including 150p cash consideration and 19p interim dividend (£1.045 billion, or ~US$ 1.45 billion, in total). In the race to acquire Vectura, PMI’s equity offer beat Carlyle Group’s £958 million (155p-a-share) offer. In 2020, Vectura generated net revenues of £191 million (~US$ 245 million). The transaction value represented a multiple of ~14 times Vectura’s 2020 EBITDA.
PMI also establishes master service agreements to develop Vectura Fertin Pharma’s inhaled therapeutics proprietary pipeline1. Vectura will be operated by Phillips Medisize, a Molex company. Phillips Medisize designs, engineers, and manufactures drug delivery systems, medical devices, and in vitro diagnostic products. The company’s more than 6,000 employees collaborate with customers at 29 sites throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
“In line with our ambitions, Vectura has enabled us to develop a proprietary pipeline of inhaled therapeutics, and we remain committed to driving innovation in this space over the long-term,” says the PMI’s CEO. Moreover, PMI states that
– Vectura acquisition has been instrumental in kick-starting Vectura Fertin Pharma’s development of inhaled therapeutics, bringing specialist knowledge, technologies, and formulation science to PMI
– despite the investment and commitment to developing products and therapies vital to patients, “unwarranted” opposition (from public health groups) impacted Vectura’s scientific engagement and commercial CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) relationships (note: it is incomprehensible that this opposition comes as a surprise to the PMI Management, especially after the failed Medicago experience).
September 2023: Philip Morris International evaluates a range of options for its struggling Healthcare unit
PMI is reported to be in discussions with Deutsche Bank on a range of options for its struggling Wellness & Healthcare (W&H) segment2,3 – including a licensing agreement, commercial partnership and sale of a majority/minority stake in Vectura.
July 2023: Philip Morris International reports massive impairment charges for its struggling Healthcare unit
In Q2 2023 Earnings release, PMI reported an asset impairment charge of $680Mn ($0.44/share) as the estimated fair value of the W&H segment was below its carrying value4, primarily reflecting:
(1) the unsuccessful clinical trial results for the inhalable aspirin product
(2) slower-than-anticipated development of the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business.
PMI also abolished its ambition to reach at least $1Bn net W&H revenue in 2025.
Background:
In addition to transformation to Reduced-Risk Products (Next Generation Products, Smokefree products), major tobacco companies are increasingly exploring growth opportunities in adjacent business areas that go beyond tobacco and nicotine. Three main areas explored are:
1. Cannabis
2. Wellness/Well-being & Stimulation
3. Healthcare (Nicotine-replacement therapies, plant-based vaccines, inhaled and oral therapeutics).
PMI’s “Beyond Nicotine (BN)” ambitions date back to 2008 – the year in which it acquired a stake in Medicago, a Canadian biotech company. Medicago successfully developed a plant-based Covid-19 vaccine (Covifenz) – which was rejected by WHO over its Tobacco ties. Eventually, in Dec 2022, PMI had to divest all of its stake (21%) in Medicago.
In 2021, PMI acquired three pharmaceutical companies and set a target of at least $1Bn in net revenues from BN products in 20255:
– Vectura: inhaled drug delivery solutions
– Fertin Pharma: oral and intra-oral delivery solutions
– OtiTopic: inhaled drug specialist with a late-stage inhalable acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) treatment for acute myocardial infarction.
References:
- https://www.pmi.com/investor-relations/press-releases-and-events/press-releases-overview/press-release-details/?newsId=28041 ↩︎
- https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/philip-morris-consider-stake-sale-biggest-pharma-unit-wsj-2023-09-20 ↩︎
- https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/09/20/philip-morris-considers-selling-stake-in-pharmaceuticals-unit.html ↩︎
- https://philipmorrisinternational.gcs-web.com/static-files/f5a30b07-bd67-44b5-896b-06d1f36cd77b ↩︎
- https://www.pmi.com/media-center/news/pmi-progresses-on-acquisition-of-three-pioneering-pharmaceutical-companies-to-accelerate-beyond-nicotine-vision ↩︎
