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Read our latest stories on the people and scientific innovations making a difference in patients’ lives.

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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...

Niesha Foster and colleagues posing for picture

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

Three Principles of Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare

Most people already use artificial intelligence (AI) in their daily lives, sometimes without even thinking about it as being AI-driven. Global positioning systems (GPS) are AI-based navigation applications, for instance, that help us find the quickest route between Points A and B and suggest alternate routes when an accident has jammed up traffic. Artificial intelligence speeds up online shopping by remembering our shopping preferences and recommending similar and complementary products. Artifi...

Real People

5 Inspiring STEM Women Who are Making Medicine Happen

Numbers don’t lie, so the saying goes. And in the United States, statistics about women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) seem to speak less than impressive volumes of truth. Here are the facts: In 2021, only 24% of people working in the United States held jobs in a STEM field1. And while women made up 50.5% of the total U.S. population2, they accounted for only 35% of people employed in STEM jobs.1 Moreover, out of the 24% of all people who worked in STEM1, 65% of...

Programs & Initiatives

A Billion Doses Delivered: 3 Lessons from the Fight Against Trachoma

Credit: Brent Stirton/Getty Images for ITI Imagine an infection that causes your eyelids to turn inward, so that your lashes—intended to protect your eyes—scrape against the sensitive outer surface of your eye every time you blink. The pain is excruciating and constant. Your eyes water. Your lashes scratch and scar your cornea, the clear tissue covering your eye. Your vision becomes increasingly hazy. That’s reality for nearly two million people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO...

Living & Wellbeing

How to Dispose of Unused Medicine Responsibly to Protect the Environment

Would it surprise you to learn that taking prescription medication is part of the daily routine for an estimated 60% of adults in the United States?1 Each prescription comes with extensive instructions about how to take the medication but offers little guidance on how to dispose of unused medicine. Responsible medication disposal is important. Improper disposal of unused or expired medications has the potential to result in pharmaceuticals getting into the environment.2 In fact, pharmaceuticals...

Trusted Voices

Why Compliance Matters and Why Patients Should Care

In 2020, as pharmaceutical companies raced to develop a vaccine in record time, the public got a rare and exciting glimpse into an area of science that’s not usually in the spotlight: drug development. Clinical trials recruited hundreds of thousands of patients, while families in lockdown waited, hoping for regulatory approval of a COVID-19 vaccine that would change the course of the pandemic. Along the way, those who watched learned a lot about the technical processes involved in creating...

Living & Wellbeing

Five Ways Climate Change Impacts Our Health—and What We Can Do About It

It took a split second, recalls Louise Proud. Something in the air triggered an asthma attack in her 18-month-old daughter. The baby’s lips turned blue as Proud rushed her to the hospital in a panic. Thankfully, the healthcare team helped the child breathe normally, and she was back to herself quickly. But Proud’s sense of safety and stability didn’t snap back so readily. For her, it was a moment of realization about how the environment and health are intimately linked. Proud, who is Vice...

Purpose & Ideals

Counterfeit Prescription Drugs: How Organizations Are Combating the Sale of Fake Meds

In an expensive healthcare system, everybody wants more affordable medicine, but at what physical or emotional cost? If you get caught in a medical fraudster's trap, that cost may be steep. By taking counterfeit prescription drugs (which look real but aren't), you not only run the risk of not receiving the benefits of the intended medication, but fakes can also harm you. Unsuspecting buyers may experience allergic reactions, overdose, or other adverse effects caused by unapproved ingredients.1...

Purpose & Ideals

How To Identify Fake Medicines

Every morning, as you greet the day and shake your prescribed medicine into your hand, you're trusting that they’re authentic. Worldwide, though, counterfeit medications are more common than some might think.Studies show approximately 10-40% of medicines sold in low- and middle-income countries are counterfeit. In the United States, less than 1% of medicines sold in retail pharmacies are counterfeit.1By that comparison, the chances of your medication being fake are small, but there's still a...

Fake Drugs 101: Facts on Illegal, Counterfeit Drugs

Purpose & Ideals

Insights into Illegal and Counterfeit Drugs

People all over the world rely on medication for things like managing chronic illness, preventing pregnancy, and treating life-threatening diseases.Yet people unknowingly consume counterfeit drugs every day, even in developed countries with well-regulated healthcare systems. They put their lives at risk for something they should be able to trust. The pharmaceutical industry and global drug regulators are constantly working to keep any below-standard and fraudulent drugs out of circulation. But...

Purpose & Ideals

Net Zero by 2040: How Pfizer is Fighting Climate Change with Ambitious Science Based Goals

In 2015, on the eve of the Paris Agreement, Pfizer was one of the first companies in the world to seek and gain approval of its greenhouse gas emission reduction goal from the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). Since then, leading scientific researchers, together with coalitions such as SBTi, have urged the private and public sectors to increase their commitments to address the growing urgency of the climate crisis. The science is irrefutable; action is required to meet the goals of the Pa...

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