RICHARD P. SOLANA, D.V.M., Ph.D., D.A.B.T.
VICE PRESIDENT
WORLDWIDE SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS

P.O. Box 26603
(804) 274-7181
FAX: (804) 274-7181
[email protected]

April 30, 2001

John D. Slade, M.D.
Environmental and Community Medicine
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
School of Public Health of New Jersey
317 George Street - Suite 201
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-2008

Dear John:

In light of your interests and comments in this area, I thought you would each like to know about our process change regarding approval of applications for research in our External Research Program. The published process in our current 2000 Request for Applications (RFA) stated in part:

"Studies recommended by the SAB are subject to final approval by Philip Morris's Scientific Research Review Committee. This committee provides Philip Morris assurances that all scientific studies funded by Philip Morris meet the highest scientific, ethical, and legal standards and serve relevant business needs, as mandated by their charter."

With further review of this process and considering concerns expressed by others that this process could compromise the integrity of the program, we have revised it to address this concern while continuing to emphasize the high standards of the program. The following will replace the above in the 2001 RFA coming out within the next two months:

"The SAB, in turn, reviews the applications and peer evaluations, and selects proposals for funding by Philip Morris. For studies of unusual complexity, cost or duration, the Scientific Advisory Board may determine that additional scrutiny is warranted in the form of a team site visit as part of the review process. This process ensures that only high quality research is supported. All scientific studies funded by Philip Morris must meet the highest scientific and ethical standards."

We believe this new process, in which the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) selects proposals for funding by Philip Morris without further review on our part, addresses the concerns noted above and offers a clean articulation of the respective roles of the SAB and Philip Morris in achieving the goals of our External Research Program. In fact, we have already put this process in place and applied it to this first year's cycle, in place of the published process.

In response to another expressed concern, when the new RFA comes out you will notice that agreements with researchers are, in fact, grants, not contracts. Further, our hope is that they publish the results of this research, without any involvement of Philip Morris in the publication process, but with attribution of Philip Morris funding.

I hope you find these changes to be significant improvements to the program, and I welcome any further comments or thoughts you may have…Please feel free to contact me at any time on this or any other matter.

Sincerely,
Rick Solana