“Health care is a team sport.” That is how Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Lidia Fonseca, describes her reason for joining Pfizer in 2019, with the goal of transforming the way the company uses digital platforms and data to improve health outcomes and the experience of patients, providers and payers.  

The April 2019 pilot launch of the Mabu¹ wellness coach, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered patient engagement robot from Catalia Health, is one example of how Pfizer is providing useful tools – collectively known as Pfizer Digital Companion™ – to doctors and patients across all disease categories. Mabu “talks” with patients about how they are feeling and helps answer questions they may have about their treatment. The Mabu Care Insights Platform² then delivers data and insights to clinicians at a specialty pharmacy provider to help a patient’s caregivers initiate timely and appropriate outreach to the patient. The goal is to help better manage symptoms and address patient questions in real time.  

Another Pfizer Digital Companion™, the LivingWith™ app, aims to connect cancer patients with an oncology support system, enabling them to share information with caregivers, friends and family, and remember important information from doctors’ visits.  

Additionally, we successfully completed an unmanned aerial vehicle (or drone) pilot program in the Dominican Republic to deliver medications to patients in remote, hard-to-reach areas. By partnering with WeRobotics and the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Health, Pfizer was able to deliver medicines over mountains 2,500 meters high in just 12 minutes, reaching more than 100 patients during a six-week pilot. We are encouraged by the pilot and are considering other locations that could benefit from this program.  

“Pfizer is starting to support patients, physicians and payers in a very different way than in the past,” says Fonseca. “We are learning about blind spots in patients’ journeys and working to use insights from data, as well as digital solutions, to deliver a more integrated experience. We want patients, their caregivers and health care providers to ‘sync’ in real time to meaningfully improve experiences and outcomes.”