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Read our latest stories on the people and scientific innovations making a difference in patients’ lives.
Science & Innovation
In Search of a New Hemophilia Treatment
Despite significant advancements in hemophilia treatments over the past several decades, a fundamental challenge remains for many patients: balancing management of the disorder while maintaining regular day-to-day activities.Historically, treatments could be cumbersome and time-consuming to administer. They typically required intravenous administration up to several times a week to prevent bleeding episodes.1 Even treatments that could be administered at home required infusions multiple times a...
Purpose & Ideals
An Accord for a Healthier World: Working Together to Help Address Unmet Healthcare Needs in Lower-Income Countries
Currently, regulatory agencies may take up to seven years to approve essential medicines and vaccines in low- and middle-income counties (LMICs) from the time those same treatments were first approved in high-income countries, if they are approved at all.1 The burden remains disproportionately higher in low-income countries.2 Lack of access to quality healthcare is related to healthcare inequities in LMICs and hinders equitable access to safe and effective treatments.2Those living in LMICs...
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: pride.After all...
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...
Science & Innovation
What Does mRNA Mean for the Flu Vaccine?
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, messenger RNA, or mRNA, has been in the spotlight for the critical role it’s playing in the first-ever approved mRNA vaccine.1 But in fact, Pfizer and BioNTech had entered into a worldwide collaboration agreement in 2018 to work on an mRNA vaccine for a different virus. “Pfizer's first partnership with BioNTech was to look at ways to develop a more effective flu vaccine,” says John McLaughlin, who is Vice President, COVID-19/Flu Vaccines & Antivirals Lead with...
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...
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...
Science & Innovation
Making the COVID-19 Oral Treatment: How 2,000+ Pfizer Team Members Made It Happen
As the potential threat of COVID-19 became clear by early 2020, teams across Pfizer sprang into action. Together, they worked to better understand the novel virus. Hospitals were filling, and no one was sure how best to treat the people who were sick. While some infected people seemed to recover quickly, others were dying. “We had started to think about how best we might be able to help address the pandemic,” recalls Annaliesa Anderson, who is Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer...
Science & Innovation
Biologics vs. Biosimilars: Understanding the Difference
Maybe you’ve heard of biologics and biosimilars. You might even be taking biological or biosimilar medicines to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, or other health conditions. Still, maybe you have questions about what the differences and similarities are or how these drugs are developed.Biologics revolutionized the prevention, treatment, and outlook of many serious diseases. Now, biosimilar advancements in these drugs are helping to provide expanded access to...
Science & Innovation
Customizing Viral Vectors to Further Gene Therapy Innovation
It seems strange to think that a harmless virus could be the key to treating an illness. But an innovative and transformative medicine called gene therapy uses non-disease-causing viruses to deliver a healthy copy of a gene that aims to treat the underlying cause of a disease. These viruses are used as vectors or vehicles that deliver genetic materials to specific cells.1 “As this flourishing field expands, scientists are engineering viral vectors that are more precisely able to deliver...
Living & Wellbeing
6 Mosquito Diseases That Can Be Deadly
Mosquitoes won’t just ruin a cookout or leave angry red welts on your skin after a blood meal; the little buzzers might also transmit serious diseases. Mosquitoes are "silent" feeders; their siphon-like mouthparts can quickly pierce human skin and feed on blood without causing any notice, says Patrick Kelly PhD, director of Global Epidemiology for Tick Borne Diseases for Pfizer. He calls it “highly efficient feeding that has been fine-tuned over millions of years.” Mosquitos have taken...
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