Rare Diseases Articles

Pfizer Sponsors Essence Festival for Third Consecutive Year

Last month, over the long 4th of July holiday weekend, Pfizer attended and sponsored the Essence Festival of Culture, the largest festival in the U.S., attracting over 500,000 attendees to New Orleans, for the third consecutive year. Since 2022, Pfizer has supported the Essence Festival to empower Black communities to advocate for their health and the health of their loved ones.This year’s sponsorship, led by the Vaccine Adoption & Equity (VAE) team, featured collaborations with Pfizer’s Sickle...

December Social Media Round-Up—Welcome Seagen, US/India CEO Forum, AI, and Gratitude

DECEMBER SOCIAL MEDIA ROUND-UPThe last month of the year tends to be rather hectic, as the holidays descend and everyone scrambles to wrap things up before spending time with their families, friends, and loved ones. Here at Pfizer, December was just as action-packed as the rest of the year. In our monthly round-up of our leadership’s social media activity, Pfizer’s CEO speaks about the acquisition of Seagen, the Nobel Prize committee honors a pair of scientists integral to development of the...

ASH 2023: Advancing Potential Breakthroughs for Patients with Hematologic Disorders

This weekend, Pfizer will be joining the hematology/oncology community at the 65th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the premier professional society of clinicians and scientists dedicated to conquering blood diseases.Blood diseases can disrupt a broad range of essential functioning – from providing the body with oxygen and nutrients, to fighting the growth of cancer, to preventing excessive bleeding. Pfizer is advancing novel approaches to blood diseases with next...

Real People

The Story of Kendall Square Orchestra, a Symphony of Scientists

In Cambridge, Mass., Kendall Square is where some of the country’s top minds solve global problems. The area is a super-magnet for renowned biomedical and technology businesses. In 2009, a consulting group dubbed it “the most innovative square mile on earth.”1 It’s also a place where music unites, entertains, and maybe even heals. Since 2018, scientists and technology professionals have come together as musicians in Kendall Square Orchestra (K2O). Each season, they perform at community events...

In Their Own Voices: A Song By and For Those Touched by Rare Disease

Although individually they are classified as “rare,” considered together, rare diseases affect as many as 1 in 10 people in the United States.1 Globally, rare diseases impact 3.5%-5.9% of the world’s population.2 That’s one of the reasons that Rare Disease Day, which occurs annually on the last day of February, is so important. It’s an opportunity to raise awareness for the many people who are less often in the spotlight. This year, Pfizer wanted to do something special to honor rare disease...

Living & Wellbeing

What is Sarcoidosis?: Your Questions Answered

Imagine waking up one morning and finding tender, red bumps all over your skin. Your vision is a bit blurry, so you check your eyes in the mirror. They’re red and teary. Is it allergies? Weeks go by, but you don’t get any better. One day, you feel feverish and short of breath, and you notice that your lymph nodes are swollen. Something is amiss. You make a doctor’s appointment, but the symptoms miraculously vanish. The cycle repeats for years as you bounce from doctor to doctor, taking...

Purpose & Ideals

Patients’ Voices Shape the Drug Development Process Through a Preference Survey

Cory Lewis has sickle cell disease. Some days, the pain from the blood disorder hits him hard. Even on days without pain, he worries about his future and the health conditions that might arise. “It’s definitely 365 for me,” he says. As a program coordinator with Sick Cells, a sickle cell disease advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., Lewis regularly educates people about what it’s like to live with this disease—a rare, inherited condition, predominately (but not exclusively) impacting Black...

Science & Innovation

Zinc Finger Transcription Factors: The On/Off Switch for Genes Inspired by Frogs

Have you ever noticed how effortlessly frogs cling to nearly every surface? Their sticky little fingers easily grab and hold onto just about anything they want. It turns out that the frogs have protein structures that do the same thing, and these structures could be the key to unlocking therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), two of the most debilitating neurological conditions affecting millions of people today. While studying the African clawed...

Parenting with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Being a parent can be challenging for anyone, but it may be even more so for people living with a chronic (lost-lasting) condition such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Trying to keep up with all of a newborn’s needs—feedings, lifting and carrying, changing diapers, and bathing (coupled with a general lack of sleep)—may be even more difficult when you’re dealing with a chronic disease, let alone an RA flare.As your child grows, he or she will likely want to involve you in even more physically...

Understanding This Rare Disease Called ATTR Amyloidosis

You probably know someone with heart failure, gastrointestinal (GI) problems, or nerve pain. They are all common problems. But in rare cases, these could be caused by a life-threatening disease called transthyretin amyloidosis (or ATTR amyloidosis, for short).Although ATTR amyloidosis is currently considered rare, there is growing evidence that it may be more common than once thought. Some experts believe that the disease is underdiagnosed due to a lack of awareness. ATTR amyloidosis is not...

Living With Hemophilia

There are currently around 20,000 males in the United States who are living with hemophilia. (Women, who are genetic carriers of the disease, very rarely experience any of the condition’s symptoms.) "Hemophilia comes in several shades of gray, and not everyone who has the condition will be affected in the same way,” says Bartholomew J. Tortella, MD, Medical Director on Pfizer’s Hemophilia team.  That said, most boys and men with hemophilia, and those caring for them, will face similar...

Is it Sore Joints—or RA?

We often think of arthritis as general joint pain or loss of mobility that comes along as we get older. Arthritis is an umbrella term for more than 100 different diseases and can impact young people as well as old. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common types. Read on to learn more. What is RA? RA is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease that can be painful and disabling. An estimated 1.5 million people in the United States have RA, and nearly three times as many women as men...