From the New York Times:

[Virginia Commonwealth University has] a contract with extremely restrictive terms that the university signed in 2006 to do research for Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest tobacco company and a unit of Altria Group. The contract bars professors from publishing the results of their studies, or even talking about them, without Philip Morris’s permission. If “a third party,” including news organizations, asks about the agreement, university officials have to decline to comment and tell the company. Nearly all patent and other intellectual property rights go to the company, not the university or its professors. … Francis L. Macrina, Virginia Commonwealth’s vice president for research … acknowledged that many of the provisions violated the university’s guidelines for industry-sponsored research.

Not cool.

The research looks legitimate enough:

Rick Solana, the senior vice president for research and technology, said university scientists were studying how to identify early warning signs of pulmonary disease, and how to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus drained into rivers from processing tobacco leaves.
Dr. Solana also said the contract represented a new focus on developing tobacco products with reduced risks, a shift in strategy in underwriting university research that requires more confidentiality to protect the corporation’s intellectual property rights. And he said Philip Morris had similar arrangements with other universities — although he declined to say how many or which ones.

But if Philip Morris wants scientists to conduct work and turn over all ownership, it should employ said scientists directly. There’s no excuse for tainting the names of entire institutions.