(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pfizer Inc (www.pfizer.com) and Sermo (www.sermo.com), the nation’s largest online physician community, today announced a strategic collaboration designed to redefine the way physicians in the U.S. and the healthcare industry work together to improve patient care. Sermo is a Web-based community where physicians share observations from daily practice, discuss emerging trends and provide new insights into medications, devices and treatments.

Through this collaboration, Sermo’s community of physicians will have access to Pfizer’s clinical content in tangible ways that allow for the transparent and efficient exchange of knowledge. With access to comprehensive and up-to-date information on Pfizer products, physicians will be able to find the data they need, when they need it, to make informed decisions.

“This collaboration reflects Pfizer's commitment to engaging in peer-to-peer medical dialogue with physicians to better meet our mutual goal of delivering the best care to patients,” said Michael Berelowitz, MD, Senior Vice President of Global Medical and New York Site Head of Worldwide Development for Pfizer. “Sermo's state of the art technology has the potential to greatly improve our ability to provide physicians with timely and accurate information they want about our medicines and clinical data.”

Pfizer, working together with Sermo’s physician community and other Sermo partners, plans to pursue a number of key objectives through this collaboration, including:

• Discover, with physicians, how best to transform the way medical information is exchanged in the fast-moving social media environment
• Create an open and transparent discussion with physicians through the innovative channel offered by online exchange
• Engage with the FDA to define guidelines for the use of social media in communications with healthcare professionals
• Work with physicians to develop a productive exchange between pharmaceutical professionals and the Sermo community

“Sermo has quickly become a powerful voice in the U.S. and physicians want that voice to be heard by parties best positioned to take action,” said Daniel Palestrant, MD, CEO of Sermo. “Our physician community has asked Sermo to find new ways to work closer with industry, building on our work with the American Medical Association and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Pfizer has chosen to assume a leadership role and find common ground with physicians in this environment built on trust and defined by transparency.”

Pfizer Inc: Working for a healthier world™

Founded in 1849, Pfizer is the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company taking new approaches to better health. We discover, develop, manufacture and deliver quality, safe and effective prescription medicines to treat and help prevent disease for both people and animals. We also partner with healthcare providers, governments and local communities around the world to expand access to our medicines and to provide better quality health care and health system support. At Pfizer, more than 90,000 colleagues in more than 90 countries work every day to help people stay happier and healthier longer and to reduce the human and economic burden of disease worldwide.

Sermo

Launched in September 2006, Sermo is already the largest online physician community in the US, with more than 30,000 physician members and growing by 2,000 physicians each week. On Sermo, physicians exchange knowledge with each other and gain potentially life saving insights directly from colleagues, instead of waiting to read about them in conventional media sources. Sermo harnesses the power of collective wisdom and enables physicians to discuss new clinical findings, report unusual events, and work together to improve patient care. Through its unique business model, Sermo is free to physicians and has no advertising or promotion.

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