Tobacco giant Philip Morris is investing billions in health care. Critics say it’s peddling cures for its own poison

A new health care company was quietly incorporated last month, with plans to leverage cutting-edge inhalation technology and oral delivery expertise to treat everything from neurology to cardiovascular emergencies.

The multibillion-dollar company, Vectura Fertin Pharma, stands out not simply for its ambitions, but because of its financial backer: Philip Morris International, the tobacco behemoth whose cigarettes are sold in more than 180 countries.

Smoking, which kills close to half a million Americans a year, does not ordinarily go hand in hand with health. But as PMI stares down projections of plummeting cigarette revenue, the company has been racking up patents and taking over health care companies, an unlikely pivot that has accelerated dramatically in the past year.

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