62 Facts About Pfizer

1.

Pfizer Inc is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City.

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2.

Pfizer was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer and his cousin Charles F Erhart .

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3.

Pfizer develops and produces medicines and vaccines for immunology, oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, and neurology.

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4.

Pfizer has several blockbuster drugs or products that each generate more than billion in annual revenues.

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5.

Pfizer was a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average stock market index from 2004 to August 2020.

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6.

Pfizer was founded in 1849 by Charles Pfizer and Charles F Erhart, two cousins who had immigrated to the United States from Ludwigsburg, Germany, the year before.

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7.

Pfizer continued to buy property in the area to expand its lab and factory, retaining offices on Flushing Avenue until the 1960s; the Brooklyn plant ultimately closed in 2009.

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8.

Pfizer spent summers in similarly exclusive Newport, Rhode Island where he died in 1906.

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9.

In 1881, Pfizer moved its administrative headquarters to 81 Maiden Lane in Manhattan, presaging the company's expansion to Chicago a year later.

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10.

World War I caused a shortage of calcium citrate, which Pfizer imported from Italy for the manufacture of citric acid, and the company began a search for an alternative supply.

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11.

Pfizer chemists learned of a fungus that ferments sugar to citric acid, and they were able to commercialize production of citric acid from this source in 1919.

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12.

Pfizer discovered oxytetracycline in 1950, and this changed the company from a manufacturer of fine chemicals to a research-based pharmaceutical company.

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13.

Pfizer developed a drug discovery program focused on in vitro synthesis to augment its research in fermentation technology.

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14.

In 1980, Pfizer launched Feldene, a prescription anti-inflammatory medication that became Pfizer's first product to reach $1billion in revenue.

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15.

In 1986, Pfizer acquired the worldwide rights to Zithromax, a macrolide antibiotic that is recommended by the Infectious Disease Society of America as a first line treatment for certain cases of community-acquired pneumonia, from Pliva.

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16.

In 1991 Pfizer began marketing Zoloft, an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor class developed nine years earlier by Pfizer chemists Kenneth Koe and Willard Welch.

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17.

In 1996, Eisai, in partnership with Pfizer, received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for donepezil under the brand Aricept for treatment of Alzheimer's disease; Pfizer received approval for Norvasc, an antihypertensive drug of the dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker class.

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18.

Pfizer has hired customs and narcotics experts worldwide to track down fakes and assemble evidence that can be used to pursue civil suits for trademark infringement.

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19.

In July 2008, Pfizer announced 275 job cuts at its manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

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20.

In 2003, Pfizer merged with Pharmacia, and in the process acquired Searle and SUGEN.

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21.

Pfizer introduced an improved version of the vaccine in 2010, for which it was granted a patent in India in 2017.

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22.

In November 2012, Pfizer received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for Xeljanz, a tofacitinib, for rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis.

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23.

Later in 2013, Pfizer completed the corporate spin-off of its remaining stake in Zoetis.

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24.

In September 2015, Pfizer acquired Hospira for $17billion, including the assumption of debt.

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25.

In December 2016, Pfizer acquired AstraZeneca's small-molecule antibiotics business for $1.

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26.

In January 2018, Pfizer announced that it would end its work on research into treatments for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinsonism .

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27.

In September 2019, Pfizer initiated a study with the CDC Foundation to investigate the tracking of healthcare-associated infections, scheduled to run through to June 2023.

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28.

Pfizer has developed and launched several products in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and Paxlovid.

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29.

Pfizer joined the partnership as an industry "leadership organization", and participated as a collaborator in ACTIV-led clinical trials.

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30.

In Canada, Pfizer endorsed the use of a vaccine passport mobile app developed by CANImmunize in order to record and track status of COVID-19 vaccination.

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31.

Unlike many of its competitors, Pfizer took no initial research funds from the United States' Operation Warp Speed vaccine development program, instead choosing to invest roughly $2 billion of its own funds.

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32.

Pfizer's CEO stated the companies in the private sector producing a vaccine should make a profit.

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33.

Pfizer purchased large quantities of single-use medical and surgical gloves and protective bodysuits from Ansell during the process, contributing to a doubling of the supplier's manufacturing capacity.

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34.

In February 2021, after a year long investigation relying on unnamed officials, Pfizer was accused by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism of employing "high-level bullying" against at least two Latin American countries during negotiations to acquire COVID-19 vaccines, including requesting that the countries put sovereign assets as collateral for payments.

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35.

Pfizer falsified data, unblinded patients, employed inadequately trained vaccinators, and was slow to follow up on adverse events reported in Pfizer's pivotal phase III trial.

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36.

In November 2021, Pfizer launched a new COVID-19 oral antivirus treatment known as Paxlovid.

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37.

Pfizer said that the firm was setting up a collaboration to develop an anti-COVID pill treatment along with a French company, Novasep.

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38.

Pfizer said the COVID vaccine was "safe and efficient" for children.

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39.

In September 2009, Pfizer pleaded guilty to the illegal marketing of arthritis drug valdecoxib and agreed to a $2.

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40.

Pfizer promoted the sale of the drug for several uses and dosages that the Food and Drug Administration specifically declined to approve due to safety concerns.

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41.

Pfizer entered a corporate integrity agreement with the Office of Inspector General that required it to make substantial structural reforms within the company, and publish to its website its post approval commitments and a searchable database of all payments to physicians made by the company.

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42.

Pfizer reported the Pharmacia marketing practices to the FDA and Department of Justice; Rost was unaware of this and filed an FCA lawsuit against Pfizer.

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43.

Pfizer kept him employed, but isolated him until the FCA suit was unsealed in 2005.

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44.

The Justice Department declined to intervene, and Pfizer fired him, and he filed a wrongful termination suit against Pfizer.

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45.

Pfizer won a summary dismissal of the case, with the court ruling that the evidence showed Pfizer had decided to fire Rost prior to learning of his whistleblower activities.

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46.

BCBS alleged that Pfizer used kickbacks and wrongly persuaded doctors to prescribe the drugs.

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47.

Pfizer purchased Shiley in 1979, at the onset of its Convexo-Concave valve ordeal, involving the Bjork–Shiley valve.

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48.

In May 2012, Pfizer settled the allegations, agreeing to pay $450million.

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49.

Nigerian medical personnel as well as at least one Pfizer physician said the trial was conducted without regulatory approval.

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50.

The letter stated that the drug's oral form was safer and easier to administer, that Trovan had been used safely in more than five thousand Americans prior to the Nigerian trial, that mortality in the patients treated by Pfizer was lower than that observed historically in African meningitis epidemics, and that no unusual side effects, unrelated to meningitis, were observed after four weeks.

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51.

In December 2010, a United States diplomatic cables leak was released by WikiLeaks indicating that Pfizer hired investigators to find evidence of corruption against Nigerian attorney general Aondoakaa to persuade him to drop legal action.

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52.

Pfizer committed to paying US$35 million "to compensate the families of children in the study", another US$30 million to "support healthcare initiatives in Kano", and 10 million to cover legal costs.

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53.

Pfizer has inherited Wyeth's liabilities in the American Cyanamid site in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, a highly toxic EPA Superfund site.

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54.

Pfizer has since attempted to remediate this land in order to clean and develop it for future profits and potential public uses.

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55.

Pfizer engages with the public and private sectors in a variety of settings including to promote research and development, academic funding, event sponsorship, philanthropy, and political lobbying.

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56.

Pfizer was a prominent sponsor of the 2022 Oscars ceremony alongside BioNTech.

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57.

Pfizer has been a major donor to the National Press Foundation.

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58.

Pfizer sponsored a program for the NPF called "Cancer Issues 2010" to train journalists to "understand the latest research" on various cancers, including the role of pharmaceutical products and vaccines.

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59.

Pfizer is affiliated with a variety of industry organizations engaging in political lobbying, and has made substantial direct donations to government and regulatory agencies:.

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60.

Pfizer lobbied various officials in the Government of British Columbia between April and November 2012, including then-premier Christy Clark, future premier John Horgan, future health minister Adrian Dix, and future deputy premier, minister of public safety and solicitor general Mike Farnworth.

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61.

Pfizer has engaged in a number of public health and global health initiatives worldwide, and provides funding for health care facilities of various specialties in Canada and the United States:.

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62.

Pfizer has partnered with and sponsored many medical research networks and professional associations in the United States, Canada and globally:.

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