How Pfizer Responds
Disasters can strike at any time in any corner of the globe for many reasons. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the World Health Organization agree that the frequency and severity of humanitarian emergencies generated as the result of impacts of climate change (such as more severe storms, droughts, wild fires, disease outbreaks, population displacement) will continue to increase unless global carbon emissions are reduced and temperature rise is stabilized.
Recognizing the critical need in settings requiring relief and emergency humanitarian assistance, Pfizer has a three part approach: cash grants, product donations and other access solutions. Using this approach, Pfizer colleagues around the world work collaboratively with governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Civil Service Organizations (CSOs), and health care providers (HCPs), to enable prevention and treatment of disease by making medicines and vaccines available to as many people as possible.
Cash Grants
In an effort to reach as many people as possible, we support a number of organizations working on providing relief and emergency humanitarian assistance. Over the past year, the Pfizer Foundation* and Pfizer Inc. have provided cash grants to various NGOs providing assistance during humanitarian emergencies, such as the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East, the Zika outbreak, and Hurricane Matthew in Haiti and the United States.
Product Donations**
Pfizer believes that product donations play an important role in supporting urgent needs in relief and humanitarian emergencies. Pfizer’s product donations, which are managed centrally within the company and focused on specific diseases or emergencies, are designed to address patient needs in a coordinated manner. These programs help provide underserved communities with access to important, potentially life-saving medicines and vaccines during times of significant challenge. Pfizer works through established NGO partners who are members of the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations (PQMD) and who abide by the WHO Guidelines on Drug Donations to ensure that best practices are followed in areas like supply chain and adverse event reporting. These NGO partners have expertise in managing product donations in humanitarian emergencies.
Pfizer’s approach to product donations is based on an expressed need. We work with our partners to assess existing local government and NGO programs, so that any donations we make effectively support ongoing initiatives.
Pfizer’s product donation during times of crisis is part of a broader donation strategy to ensure access to our medicines and vaccines for patients in need. The general approach for product donation depends on the therapy and context, and there are four types of donations which the company will support. The first provides medicines for our longstanding flagship donations, like the donation of antibiotics for the International Trachoma Initiative to eliminate blinding trachoma (link). Pfizer has supported ITI for over 25 years and has extended the commitment through 2030.
The second supports programs which enable access to certain Pfizer medicines which are not commercially available. Examples of these programs are our work with Max Foundation (link) and Paxlovid Quick Start consortium (link).
Third, Pfizer provides donations for humanitarian emergencies and health system strengthening. Pfizer works with established NGOs who are members of the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations (PQMD – link) that have experience responding to disasters all over the world.
Finally, Pfizer provides product donations for global health research. Pfizer's has an established Investigator Sponsored Research (ISR-link) pathway to fulfill donations for external research requests.
* The Pfizer Foundation is a charitable organization established by Pfizer, Inc. It is a separate legal entity from Pfizer, Inc. with distinct legal restrictions.
**The Pfizer Patient Assistance Program is a joint program of Pfizer Inc. and the Pfizer Patient Assistance Foundation™. The Pfizer Patient Assistance Foundation is a separate legal entity from Pfizer Inc. with distinct legal restrictions.