We must create a sustainable platform for growth through science and innovation. Improving the performance of our innovative core is essential, and we are taking decisive steps to do that. In 2010 we centralized our global R&D team under the leadership of Dr. Mikael Dolsten. On February 1, 2011 we announced an acceleration of our R&D strategy, which sharpens our research focus on the areas that give us the best promise of scientific and commercial success. At the center of this strategy, we will sustain or increase our investments in neuroscience; cardiovascular, metabolic and endocrine diseases; oncology; inflammation and immunology; and vaccines. These areas will be augmented by the advantaged technologies delivered by Rinat and CovX, two biotechnology organizations acquired by Pfizer within the past five years. We are also establishing teams dedicated to treatments for pain and sensory disorders, and the advancement of follow-on biologics, also referred to as biosimilars, that are differentiated based on quality, manufacturing platforms and the value offered to patients. This represents a new growth opportunity for Pfizer.
Our mix of research projects is shifting to a greater proportion of large molecules (protein-based biologicals) and conjugate vaccines, where we have strong scientific expertise and higher potential for commercialization. Pfizer's R&D pipeline is rich in Phase I and Phase II entries aimed at important unmet medical needs such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, pain and vaccines, and backed by more proof of the mechanisms of action than ever before. With biomedical science advancing on all fronts, we are working more collaboratively with academic medical centers and other pharmaceutical and biotech companies in ways that allow us to share risk and gain access to new knowledge and technologies.
Our R&D strategy is designed to strengthen our engine for innovation, provide a better mix of therapeutic approaches, deliver greater numbers of differentiated products, yield a higher return on R&D investment, and build a culture focused more intensely on ownership and accountability.
Strong Financial and Commercial Competitiveness
We are organized around customer-focused business units, which makes us a more adept and responsive organization. The leaders in each business unit know the health care environments they operate in, country by country, understand payers' concerns, and have critical insights about the needs of health care providers and patients. Using this knowledge, and through close collaboration with the research units, these leaders are responsible for making the right decisions on how to best allocate a major portion of our resources, and have accountability for late-stage product development and for making smart investment choices. By ensuring that a deep understanding of customers informs our research, we have become an industry leader in emerging markets and remain competitively positioned in the mature European Union and U.S. markets.
Just as we are moving forward decisively in research, we are also reviewing the value-creation potential of our portfolio of businesses by assessing their worth today and potential for creating value over the next several years. The mere fact that we have size and scale will not be a driver for how we make decisions. We will take the actions that maximize the value created by the business units so that the whole of Pfizer is greater than the sum of our individual parts.
Earning Respect From Society
I firmly believe that credibility—doing what we say we will do, and integrity—doing the right things, enhance respect for Pfizer and open doors for our company around the world. We are a leader in an important sector—health care—and work in one of the world's most complex, highly regulated industries. I know that a Pfizer that is well respected by society will lead to new opportunities that accrue to the benefit of all our stakeholders.
We are earning respect and trust by delivering on our commitments and continuing to listen and learn from our customers and other stakeholders, including groups that monitor our commercial practices. In 2010 we modified a number of our practices to provide more clarity and disclosure on payments that we make to health care professionals to do commissioned research or provide physician education. We also issued a report on our contributions to advancing the UN Millennium Development Goals, which delineate a set of global priorities in alleviating poverty, taking care of the environment and improving maternal and child health.
In 2010 we invested heavily in training for all colleagues on the importance of integrity in all actions. In addition, we are refining a number of our processes to ensure stronger oversight. For example, in 2010 we completed the implementation of a new adverse event reporting system and launched a top-to-bottom recasting of our clinical trial process designed to ensure that we are complying with all applicable laws and regulations.
