//Imperial Brands talks Tobacco Harm Reduction at online medical conference

Imperial Brands/Reemtsma Germany attended the Endoprothetik-Congress of Charité Berlin conference as industry sponsor and speaker. Senior Cluster Officer, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs DACH & Nordics, Dr Thomas Nahde reports on the virtual event.

Imperial Brands through its Reemtsma Germany subsidiary for the first time attended this year’s Endoprothetik-Congress annually hosted by the Charité Berlin, which was moved online throughout the event from 25-27 February 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

A virtual stand was developed for over 900 visitors to explore. Image: Imperial Brands

The Endoprothetik-Congress is an annual platform for around 400-500 surgeons, ranging from top key opinion leaders in orthopedic surgery to early-career professionals and physiotherapists. The event encourages exchange of medical and scientific knowledge on a broad range of subjects, focusing on knee and hip arthroplasty, but include other orthopedic topics such as post-operatic complication management and prevention. These latter topics are where Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) is relevant, because patient smoking of combustible cigarettes after procedures can affect recovery.

As Imperial Brands’ Scientific Affairs and Engagement Representative, I manned a virtual stand throughout the event, outlining the public health policy of harm reduction and the role of Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) science in the development of our Next Generation Products (NGPs). I also covered the role of nicotine when decoupled from burned tobacco in the context of THR.

Stand posters explained how harm reduction could help reduce post-surgery complications. Image: Imperial Brands

I also had the opportunity to present a live lecture ‘Risk Reduction by Alternatives for Smoking’ in front of 400 attendees during the main scientific programme session for ‘Complication Prevention in Knee and Hip Arthroplasty’. Here, I introduced THR in the context that a) smoking may be an important risk factor for surgical complications, and b) physicians very often have significant misunderstandings around nicotine and its perceived role in smoking-related diseases.

The short lecture landed very well and started first thoughts and conversations with Professor Thorsten Gehrke (one of the two chairmen during the session and Director of the Helios-Endo-Clinic in Hamburg) confessing: “I really learned something from your lecture today — until today I also believed that nicotine is mainly responsible for smoking related diseases.”

Mark of success: Imperial Brands’ Dr Thomas Nahde has already been invited to next year’s live event.

Prof. Gehrke is also one of the three Congress Presidents, and he added that the THR presentation was technically excellent and economically balanced, and received extremely positively by the vast majority of his colleagues.

The Endo-Congress organisers report at least 900 attendees; from these around 400 attended the session on risk management with the lecture on THR.

To continue on this path of medical and scientific education around THR, further activities for healthcare providers including orthopedy, dentistry as well as wound management are now planned for the future, further educating influential medical professionals about nicotine and the potential public health benefit potential of endorsing THR strategies.

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