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Read our latest stories on the people and scientific innovations making a difference in patients’ lives.
Programs & Initiatives
This Rotational R&D Program Allows Young Scientists to Experiment in Their Careers
Young scientists face some tough decisions when they graduate from college. Will they use their degree to enter a science-related field? Go to grad school? Forge a new path entirely?At Pfizer, a two-year program allows a handful of recent graduates to “try out” different jobs across the drug development process and learn more about career choices — and themselves. Associates accepted to the R&D Rotational Program immerse themselves in four rotations of their choosing for six months each. “I see...
Purpose & Ideals
An Accord for a Healthier World: Working Together to Help Address Unmet Healthcare Needs in Lower-Income Countries
Currently, regulatory agencies may take up to seven years to approve essential medicines and vaccines in low- and middle-income counties (LMICs) from the time those same treatments were first approved in high-income countries, if they are approved at all.1 The burden remains disproportionately higher in low-income countries.2 Lack of access to quality healthcare is related to healthcare inequities in LMICs and hinders equitable access to safe and effective treatments.2Those living in LMICs...
Science & Innovation
In Celebrating 175 Years, Pfizer Challenges Itself to ‘Outdo Yesterday’
Image caption: Site of the Pfizer World Headquarters Building as it Appeared in 1861It started with a breakthrough.The year was 1849, and people everywhere were getting sick to their stomachs. In the days before widespread refrigeration, a simple meal of meat and potatoes could cause intestinal worms. A drug called santonin could kill the parasites, but it tasted so bitter many people avoided it.Charles Pfizer and his cousin, Charles Erhart, had just immigrated to the U.S. from Germany and...
Programs & Initiatives
Pfizer's Multicultural Health Equity Collective Marks 10 Years of Progress
Marginalized communities in the United States have faced generations of health inequities due to systemic discrimination embedded into our healthcare system. Life expectancy in the U.S., for instance, masks significant racial and ethnic disparities – the average life expectancy for non-Hispanic American Indians or Alaska Natives is seven years lower than it is for non-Hispanic whites.1
Real People
Advocacy, Strength, and Hope in the Face of Metastatic Melanoma: Bruce and Chris's Story
In 2013, Bruce’s life changed. He was living in sunny Florida with Chris, his wife of over 20 years, when he received an unexpected diagnosis: metastatic melanoma—the most aggressive form of skin cancer.1,2It was a disease Bruce had heard of before—a disease that will impact over 100,000 people in the U.S. this year and 510,000 people across the world by 2040.2,3 But it didn’t cross his mind when he noticed a small lesion on the top of his foot. Chris encouraged Bruce to get it checked out. In...
Trusted Voices
Together We Can Change the Odds for People with Cancer
One in three people in the United States will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.i This means you, or someone you know, may someday be impacted. This disease does not discriminate. Unfortunately, many people face unnecessary barriers to timely and equitable screening, treatment and support. To help close these gaps, the American Cancer Society (ACS) and Pfizer recently launched a new three-year initiative, “Change the Odds: Uniting to Improve Cancer Outcomes,” aimed at addressing...
Programs & Initiatives
The Importance of Returning Clinical Trial Data to Participants
Clinical trial participants are at the heart of medical research, and it’s with their help that Pfizer is able to bring life-changing treatments to patients.But, until recently, clinical trial sponsors like Pfizer have not been equipped to provide participants with their own personal clinical trial data when a trial ends. Pfizer’s team of clinical trial experts have worked for many years to change that by launching the Clinical Trial Participant Data Return Initiative.This first-of-its-kind...
Science & Innovation
Mathematical Sandbox: How Quantitative Systems Pharmacology Steers Safer, Faster Drug Development
Fear and anxiety swirled when Dr. Cynthia J. Musante’s husband contracted COVID-19. He faced agreater risk of coming down with a severe case since he was already unwell.But all their worries vanished in just 24 hours.Dr. Musante recalls that her husband soon started to feel better after being prescribed an investigational oral treatment for those with COVID-19. “It felt like a miracle,” he said. “I had felt so horrible.”As relief settled in, Dr. Musante felt something else: pride.After all, from...
Science & Innovation
From Math to Medicine: What Are Mathematical Models and How Do They Predict Pharmacology?
It sounds strange, but predicting how medications impact diseases and the body is a lot like forecasting the weather.To understand why, imagine opening a weather app on your smartphone to check the forecast for the upcoming weekend. You see that it’ll be sunny, 72 degrees, with a slight breeze—perfect weather. But how did scientists predict those precise physical conditions so far in the future?The answer: mathematical models.Scientists across disciplines use mathematical models to make...
Purpose & Ideals
Cancer Survivors' 'Butterfly Club' Network Fosters Support and Partnership
For many cancer survivors, life splits into two stages: before cancer and after cancer. That’s been the case for Lynette Bojko, Pfizer’s Head of Strategic Sourcing & Business Management. She was diagnosed with breast cancer just before her 40th birthday. “Unfortunately or fortunately, cancer is a lot of my identity,” she says. When treatment began, she didn’t want to hide what she was going through at the office, so she talked about it. That openness allowed her to connect with colleagues who...
Real People
The Butterfly Club: Stories of Volunteers that Colleagues with Cancer Can Lean On
When Nikki Shaffer was diagnosed with breast cancer at 35, she had so many questions. How should she tell her three young children about it? Should she keep working? Would she see her kids grow up?That was in 2009. As Shaffer went through treatment, a non-profit connected her with other cancer survivors, but she didn’t click with anyone. “They connected me to people who were in their 50s when they were diagnosed, and their questions and their concerns were not the same as mine,” says Shaffer...
Living & Wellbeing
Adolescents with Alopecia Areata: What Caregivers Should Know
A lot of kids just want to fit in.1 But for too many, hair loss makes them stand out. For the one in 1,000 children and teens diagnosed with alopecia areata (AA), an autoimmune disease that causes the immune system to attack the hair follicles, hair loss can create practical challenges.2,3Youth with AA might feel too self-conscious for selfies, refuse to go out without a hat, or decline invitations to swimming parties or sports leagues for fear their wigs will fall off. In a 2017 study of 69...
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