US-based tobacco giant Philip Morris International will sell Vectura Group for less than $300 million almost three years after it bought the respiratory medicine company for roughly $2 billion.

Known for Marlboro cigarettes, Philip Morris International (PMI) bought the pharma company in 2021 as it touted its commitment to a “smoke-free” future.

But medical groups such as the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) called for a boycott of Vectura’s nebulisers and dry-powder inhalers “on the ethical principle that PMI and other tobacco companies should not profit from treating the very illnesses their products cause”.

Lung Foundation Australia and Asthma Australia also slammed the purchase given the deaths caused by smoking: more than eight million people every year, according to the WHO.