Clinical Trials for Children – Why Are They So Important?

When doctors prescribe a medication, they may rely on the drug label (or US prescribing information) to help them understand how to use it safely and successfully. This prescribing information document comes along with a prescription medication and provides detailed information which comes directly from research studies and clinical trials: How the medication works in the body What specifically the medication has been approved to treat in the US (e.g., high blood pressure, high cholesterol...

What If You Could Donate Your Data For Research?

There are many ways you can help researchers learn more about certain conditions or diseases by sharing your data. Being an active participant in a study that involves medical testing is not the only way scientific data is gathered in research studies and clinical trials. In fact, researchers can find valuable information from medical data such as electronic health records. Another source of data important to researchers is you, the patient. Some studies may ask patients to track and self...

Caregiver’s Guide for Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative motor disorder, meaning there are many features of the disease that will change over time—slowly in most people. And, while no two people experience the disease the same way, there are a number of common symptoms caregivers can look out for that may help prepare them for the changes likely to occur during early-stage, mid-stage, and advanced-stage Parkinson’s disease. As PD progresses, patients may have increased difficulty walking...

The Importance of Women and Diversity in Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are key to finding and learning if medical treatments are safe and effective. These treatments include medicines, medical devices, procedures, and lifestyle changes, such as diet. All new medical treatments must go through clinical trials before they can be approved by the FDA. Despite the importance that comes from clinical trials there is a drawback: the people who enroll in trials do not always represent key patient populations like women and minorities. Read on to learn more...

Does Being a Person of Color Increase Your Health Risks?

The US has become more ethnically diverse in the last century, and in general our health and the quality of care we receive has improved. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case for some people of color. In fact, certain medical conditions and health behaviors—and the factors that can lead to them—are more common or severe among some people of color. Below are facts about 5 such conditions and behaviors, followed by steps you can take to help prevent them. Diabetes. Among adults in the US...

Real People

Sandy Focuses on Diversity in Our Clinical Trials

Meet Sandy. She is responsible for managing diversity in Pfizer’s clinical trials, striving for statistically diverse participant pools. For those who are unfamiliar with what clinical trials are, Sandy explains that a clinical trial is a “research study where we are recruiting participants to evaluate the safety or efficacy of a medicine or vaccine before it’s readily available.” As part of these research studies, it’s incredibly important to include people who are affected by the...

Real People

Latino Colleagues at Pfizer Are Developing Potential Solutions for People Affected by COVID-19

Traditionally, National Hispanic Heritage Month is marked from September 15th to October 15th and honors the cultures and contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans. In recognition of this culturally significant month, learn more about the Pfizer Latino colleagues who are making a difference in the fight against COVID-19.   At Pfizer, we believe that developing a vaccine that could decrease rates of infection, disease, and death worldwide is a critical part of addressing this global health...

Science & Innovation

Other Diseases Deserve the Same Acceleration as COVID-19

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Science & Innovation

Vaccine Production: Find Out How Vaccines Are Created

Vaccines have revolutionized our ability to improve health and save lives, resulting in the control, elimination, or near-elimination of many life-threatening diseases. The path to disease prevention – the development of a novel vaccine – is a complex and lengthy process that generally takes 10 to 15 years.1 Every step of the way, our team is committed to pursuing research and forming partnerships that facilitate the rapid development and delivery of a vaccine. To help protect against the COVID...

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...

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...

Capturing the Itch: Using Digital Wearable Devices to Help Patients with Atopic Dermatitis

For people who have atopic dermatitis (AD) — an autoimmune condition that causes painful, itchy, and inflamed skin — symptoms often flare up at night, leading to disrupted sleep. Until recently, there hasn’t been a way to truly capture how much a person’s quality of life is impacted by these nighttime symptoms. Patients enrolled in studies are asked to complete sleep journals, but these self-reports are based on recall and are often not fully accurate. To address this issue, Pfizer’s Digital...