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Meet the Common Viruses Now Used to Help Combat Cancer

Common viruses are now being engineered to seek out and destroy cancer cells.Herpes, the virus behind the common cold sore, is moving up in the world. Thanks to scientific engineering, it’s no longer just a nuisance virus but also the latest weapon in the fight against cancer.Last fall, in a first-of-its-kind move, the Food and Drug Administration approved a genetically-engineered herpes virus to treat late-stage melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. It was the first oncolytic virus...

How Virtual Reality Takes Scientists Inside New Molecules (video)

A walk-in 3-D cube lets scientists explore the human body, its organs, and even the tiniest of cells. From video games to immersive documentaries, virtual reality is beginning to transform the consumer media and entertainment experience. But it’s poised to improve the way scientist discover new medicines as well. At Pfizer’s Research & Development hub in Cambridge, Mass., chemists, neuroscientists and other researchers use 3D VisBox technology to visualize and virtually explore the human body...

9 Things You Didn’t Know About Vaccines

  The cowpox pustules on the hand of a milkmaid in the 18th century provided the first vaccine ever created. (Science Photo Library) Vaccines have a long and storied history, from milkmaids’ cowpox pustules to snorting the scabs of infected people. The first vaccine was administered in 1796. In the two centuries since, dozens of vaccines have led to the salvation of millions of lives, from George Washington’s troops to children around the world.   Herewith, a primer on vaccines’ most...

Flashback: Carbolic Acid Sprayer

(Science Photo Library) Joseph Lister revolutionizes the world of surgery with an antiseptic idea. Upon reading Louis Pasteur’s work on putrefaction as a result of germs in 1865, budding Scottish physician Joseph Lister was struck with a eureka moment: He wanted to stop the outrageously high rate of deaths, a full 40 percent in the case of amputations, from infection acquired as a direct result of surgery. By 1867, he’d decided that carbolic acid (or phenol, a derivative of coal tar)...

Science & Innovation

Tackling Antibiotic Resistance

Pfizer and industry partners present roadmap for overcoming the threat that resistance poses. In an unprecedented collaboration, today, Pfizer and 13 industry partners released a comprehensive plan of action that lays out four key commitments we pledge to deliver by 2020 to reduce the rising incidence of antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance is a natural process by which bacteria and other microbes develop resistance to the drugs commonly used to treat infections, including...

Living & Wellbeing

Educating Parents About Meningococcal Disease

Pfizer has partnered with The Kimberly Coffey Foundation on a National Meningococcal Disease Awareness Survey to better understand parents’ knowledge of meningococcal disease and available vaccines. Learn more about the survey results...  Learn more about the Kimberly Coffey Foundation…

Science & Innovation

The World Federation of Hemophilia Twinning Program

Celebrating Advancements in Hemophilia Patient Care and Treatment   In 1994, the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) recognized the need for a program to unite hemophilia treatment centers and patient organizations across the world to share information, best practices, and resources to help improve the treatment and care of those living with hemophilia. As a result, the WFH Twinning Program was created to facilitate short-term collaborative partnerships between medical professionals and...

The Value of Treatment Advances in Hemophilia

Pfizer has long maintained that medicines provide tremendous value to individuals and society as a whole. We have now captured that value in a series of concise, easy-to-access papers that detail the societal and economic value provided by medicines that treat various disease areas. The data we provide come from published, peer-reviewed studies and are complemented by real stories from patients who have benefited from medicines. We hope these will serve as a resource to those looking to quantify...

Understanding and Dispelling Myths about Metastatic Breast Cancer

The conversation about breast cancer needs to expand to include Metastatic Breast Cancer.

Breast Cancer – What You May Not Know But Should

Breast Cancer – What You May Not Know But Should During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, most of the breast cancer conversation centers around early detection and survivorship. As inspiring and important as that effort is, there’s strikingly little knowledge among the public about metastatic breast cancer. Up to a quarter of a million people are living with this diagnosis today in the U.S., but in a recent survey, more than 60 percent of people said they know little to nothing about it. On The...

Pfizer Foundation Provides $2M in Grants for Vaccine Coverage in Africa

Pfizer Foundation Provides $2M in Grants for Vaccine Coverage in Africa The Pfizer Foundation has announced $2 million in grant funding for pilot programs to improve immunization coverage in Africa, focusing on ‘last-mile’ interventions to reach underserved populations living in Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. Grant recipients include UNICEF, Save the Children and International Rescue Committee.

Pfizer Vaccines: A Legacy of Achievement in Preventing Disease

Learn about Pfizer’s legacy of achievement in researching and developing vaccines.