Medicago ditches Philip Morris as WHO disproves plant-based COVID-19 vaccine

Medicago Inc. has been developing a plant-based vaccine for COVID-19, and for this project, it has teamed up with some companies, including Philip Morris. The World Health Organization recently rejected its vaccine and with this, the Canadian biotechnology company decided to sever ties with the cigarette maker.

According to Bloomberg, Medicago submitted a request for the emergency-use listing of its plant-based COVID-19 vaccine but WHO did not grant its approval earlier this year. It was reported that the reason for the rejection was the biotech firm’s links with the tobacco industry.

Medicago made Covifenz which was dubbed as the first plant-based COVID vaccine in the world. It was jointly developed by Medicago and GlaxoSmithKline but the Canadian government contributed to the funding of its development by providing $173 million. The Canadian biotech firm is also 25% owned by Philip Morris.

However, despite the successful tests and approval from Health Canada, WHO gave the opposite decision; thus, it cannot be shipped anywhere else. This outcome pushed Medicago to drop Philip Morris from the COVID-19 vaccine collaboration.

The company’s move to eject the cigarette maker from the project was highly praised by civil society, and proceeded to plead with all governments to avoid working with tobacco companies in the future.

"Tobacco corporations, vaccines and governments do not mix well and we applaud the expulsion of Philip Morris from the Medicago collaboration," executive director of the non-profit organization Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) Canada, Les Hagen, said in a press release. "Tobacco industry products are responsible for over eight million deaths annually worldwide and tobacco corporations are desperately trying to whitewash their terrible public image by investing in the health sector.”

Hagen added that they are pleased that Canadian governments have decided to not get involved with a company in the tobacco business any longer. He also described the initial partnership as an “unethical and embarrassing collaboration with a tobacco giant."

Corporate Accountability's tobacco campaign director, Daniel Dorado, added, "Now that Philip Morris has been ejected from this collaboration, we urge Canadian governments to fully comply with the treaty by closing the barn door on any future tobacco industry partnerships."