Featured Articles
Read our latest stories on the people and scientific innovations making a difference in patients’ lives.
Living & Wellbeing
Severe COVID-19 and the Continuing Importance of Protecting High Risk Populations
The concept of "severe COVID-19" can be a frightening one, especially when the term itself is so often misunderstood or confused with having self-assessed severe symptoms of COVID-19.Approximately 80% of those who test positive for COVID-19 have mild to moderate illness.1 But adults 50 and older and people of any age with certain underlying health conditions are at high risk of progression to severe COVID-19. That adds up to two in five people worldwide who are at increased risk for severe COVID...
Programs & Initiatives
The Future of Pharmacovigilance: Monitoring Medicine and Vaccine Safety Using AI and Other Tech
While many Pfizer colleagues worked to, develop and manufacture a vaccine for COVID-19, one Pfizer team was hard at work monitoring the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine trial. And they did so while also maintaining safety monitoring operations for more than 1,000 other products in the Pfizer portfolio.Pharmacovigilance is the name for the area of science which scientists and medical professionals monitor medicine and vaccine-related safety issues. “Medicine and vaccine safety is one of those...
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...
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 a greater 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...
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...
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...
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.2,3 Youth 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...
Trusted Voices
Bringing Together Diverse Organizations to Strive for Health Equity
As a Black woman who grew up living in subsidized housing in the U.S., I know what it means to live in a world where healthcare is not equal, and not trusted. Like so many others, I have family and friends along the health spectrum who have little interest in going to the doctor because they don’t feel seen or heard. This well-earned lack of trust has led some to decide against receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, among other healthcare services and interventions. I know firsthand the work that...
Purpose & Ideals
Migraine in the Workplace and Creating a Safe Space
One billion people worldwide live with migraine; that’s about one in seven. At those odds, there’s a high probability that each of us works with someone who experiences migraine. And if you’re an employer, this could mean that migraine in the workplace could have a significant impact on your workforce. Migraine is a debilitating neurological disease that causes intense pain in the head, as well as other sensory and/or motor dysfunction. Migraine attacks usually include symptoms like nausea...
Science & Innovation
The Challenges of Defining, Understanding, and Addressing Long COVID
Years have passed since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. And though some immunity (acquired by vaccination or through a combination of vaccination and prior infection) allows people to reincorporate some of the lifestyle and activities that they used to enjoy, the virus continues to significantly impact patients, health systems, and economies around the world. In addition to the devastating effects that acute infection can have on those at high risk for severe illness, so-called long...
Real People
Lady Gaga on Living With Migraine
If migraine attacks have impacted your ability to simply go about your day, spend time with your family and friends, or do your job, then you and Academy Award®, Golden Globe® Award and 13-time Grammy® Award-winning actress and philanthropist have a lot in common. Lady Gaga recently opened up to Pfizer.com about how migraines have affected her life. “My experience with migraines was debilitating. I would be in bed for days with tremendous pain in my head, behind my eyes, and all throughout...
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