Medicago Cuts Ties With Philip Morris as WHO Rejects Covid Shot

Medicago Inc. severed ties with cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc after the World Health Organization rejected the Canadian company’s Covid-19 vaccine, according to a tobacco control body.

Covifenz, the world’s first plant-based Covid vaccine, was jointly developed by Medicago, which is owned by Mitsubishi Chemical, Philip Morris and Glaxo. The Canadian government, which provided $173 million in funding for its development, has cleared it for use.

“Tobacco corporations, vaccines and governments don’t mix well and we applaud the expulsion of Philip Morris from the Medicago collaboration,” Les Hagen, the executive director of a not-for-profit organization ASH Canada, said in ...