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Living & Wellbeing

Goal Setting: Three Tips for Developing Disease Management Goals

We’re dedicated to sharing the perspectives of people affected by chronic inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). That’s why we created Arthritis.com, a place where people living with RA can find inspiration, lifestyle advice, tools, and disease information. Following is an article from Arthritis.com contributor Ara Dikranian, M.D. Dr. Dikranian was compensated by Pfizer to share his perspective as a rheumatologist. Managing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a part of daily life, and...

Real People

One Daughter’s Search for a Medical Breakthrough

In May of 2019, Brenda Cooperstone, chief development officer for rare disease at Pfizer, received a troubling phone call from her mother. She shared that Brenda’s father, then in his early 80s, hadn’t been doing anything out of the ordinary when he felt a painful twinge in his arm. “Maybe it was all the golf,” Harvey Cooperstone remembers speculating about his injury. “But it was the first time I believed something was wrong.” Brenda, a physician by training, suspected her father had...

Real People

Working Together to Empower Women

For Women’s History Month, we’re honoring some of the many ways Pfizer is celebrating and advancing women. Recently, our Pfizer Global Supply site in Vizag, India, found a way to give women more opportunities to work early morning and evening shifts through their “Women In Shifts” program.     “We wanted to implement this program in the best way – in line with our Values of everyone being seen, heard and cared for,” said Ravi Kiran Teegala, Human Resources Lead in Vizag, India. The “Women...

Solving the Matchmaking Problem in Precision Medicine Cancer Studies

 With the rise of precision medicine, scientists are hopeful that more cancer patients can receive treatments tailored to their specific tumor mutations. But with these advances, a matchmaking problem has also emerged: It can be very challenging to recruit enough patients with specific tumor mutations to participate in clinical trials.However, a pioneering clinical trial model is helping more patients with advanced-stage non-small-cell lung cancer participate in studies that match their tumor...

Living & Wellbeing

How to Practice Self-Care

We’re dedicated to sharing the perspectives of people affected by chronic inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (RA). That’s why we created Arthritis.com, a place where people living with RA can find inspiration, lifestyle advice, tools and disease information. Following is an article from Arthritis.com contributor Stephanie Aleite, who is living with RA. Pfizer asked Stephanie to share her story and she was compensated for this article. For me, stress and my rheumatoid arthritis...

A Novel Approach to Hemophilia: Stopping the Body’s Natural Clotting Brakes

  Our bodies delicately balance clotting and anti-clotting mechanisms, which help to stop bleeding when there’s an injury or dissolve dangerous clots that can form in blood vessels. But for patients with hemophilia, a rare genetic disease that causes deficiencies in clotting factor VIII or IX, this delicate balance is upset. Patients experience excessive bleeding after an injury and can suffer permanent joint damage following repeated bleeding episodes. For decades, the most common treatment...

Seeking to Improve Quality of Life for Children with Achondroplasia

  For children with achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism, scientists are exploring new ways to restore bone growth and potentially address some of the major health complications with the condition, such as spinal problems, swelling in the brain, frequent ear infections and sleep apnea.   Achondroplasia is a rare genetic bone disorder affecting 1 in 15,000 to 40,000 people in the U.S. The average height for men with the condition is about 4 feet, 4 inches and for women it’s 4 feet...

Mending Broken Walls: 5 Insights About Gut Health Helping IBD Patients

Our skin is the most visible barrier that separates our bodies from the outside world. But deep inside the body, we have another critical wall, the gut epithelial barrier, which helps to block pathogens and toxins, while selectively allowing nutrients and water to be absorbed.  “The gut is a very exciting and dynamic kind of barrier,” says Marion Kasaian, Head of Epithelial Biology based at Pfizer’s Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts research site. “It has a larger surface area than skin...

Meet the New Digital Assistants Transforming Patient Medical Information

  Pfizer’s trio of recently launched digital assistants, Medibot in the US, Fabi in Brazil and Maibo in Japan, make it easier for patients and healthcare providers to access medical information. Meet Fabi, a digital assistant with an easy smile and brown curly hair who can make small talk in Portuguese and answer hundreds of questions related to Pfizer’s medicines in Brazil.   While chatbots have been around for consumer and retail use for more than two decades, Pfizer is leading the...

Strategies for Managing Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Symptoms

When biologics to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) were first released over two decades ago, they greatly improved quality of life for many patients. But these first-generation therapies have their shortcomings. Fewer than half of patients treated with these inflammation-blocking drugs will be in remission after one year of treatment. These treatments can also suppress the immune system, making patients vulnerable to infection.But now, thanks to advancements in our understanding of the...

Real People

Eric Hudson: A Lens on Life

I’m a husband and father. A busy regional business director at Pfizer. An endurance athlete. And very grateful to be here. A few years ago, I was training for an Ironman when my left calf became swollen and tight after a long run. I went to an orthopedic surgeon, who did an ultrasound that showed a deep vein thrombosis in my left thigh. After I was admitted to the hospital, an ultrasound showed a pulmonary embolus in one lung. My life changed in that moment. Now I am managing my condition and...

Real People

Dear Scientist: NASH - Meet Ann-Marie

As a bridge between patients and scientists, our own Ann-Marie Richard connects with patients like Jenni Tucker – who was diagnosed with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis at age 19 – to learn about their experiences with NASH, insights that can help guide research toward patients’ needs.